Stock prices head toward lower opening By MADLEN READ, AP Business Writer

Stock prices head toward lower opening By MADLEN READ, AP Business Writer
12 minutes ago



NEW YORK - Stocks headed toward a lower opening Thursday, suggesting Wall Street is taking few chances amid concerns that squeezed credit is hurting the economy and uncertainty about the Federal Reserve's intentions.

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Investors were also awaiting the Commerce Department's estimate of second-quarter gross domestic product. Economists forecast that GDP growth will read 4.1 percent, a faster rate than the department's July estimate of 3.4 percent.

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrials gained nearly 250 points after losing about 280 points in the prior session, as investors grew more optimistic about chances for an interest rate cut and sought out bargains. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, expected to speak in Wyoming on Friday, said in a letter to Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., that Fed policymakers are "prepared to act as needed" if the market's turmoil damages the economy.

In premarket trading Thursday, stock futures indicated that Wall Street was likely to pull back again, with investors wanting to collect some of their gains from Wednesday.

Dow futures expiring in September fell 47, or 0.35 percent, to 13,264, while Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 6.50, or 0.44 percent, to 1,458.90. Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 3.75, or 0.19 percent, to 1,957.25.

In corporate news, H&R Block Inc. reported that its first-quarter loss was bigger than during the same period last year, as it struggled with its mortgage lending arm.

The dollar was higher against most other major currencies, while gold prices fell.

Light, sweet crude rose 37 cents to $73.88 a barrel in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

After Wall Street's big jump Wednesday, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.88 percent, Hong Kong's key index rose 2.02 percent, and China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.14 percent.

In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.38 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.10 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.63 percent.

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On the Net:

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China replaces 5 Cabinet ministers By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer

China replaces 5 Cabinet ministers By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 11 minutes ago



BEIJING - China replaced five Cabinet ministers — including the finance minister and the head of the secret police — the government said Thursday, just weeks ahead of a major Communist Party meeting that will set the country's policies for the next five years.

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Jin Renqing, finance minister since 2003, has been replaced by Xie Xuren, government spokesman He Shaoren told a news conference. He also announced that Geng Huichang had replaced Xu Yongyue as state security minister in charge of China's secret police.

The others replaced were the ministers of supervision and personnel, and the minister in charge of the State Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, He said.

The changes were announced at the end of a meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's legislature. The committee meets to decide laws and personnel changes when the legislature is not in its annual sitting.

One official said Jin stepped down for personal reasons, but no reasons were given for the other changes.

"For personal reasons, Jin Renqing requested to resign. The central government agreed to his request and approved appointing him to be deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council," a spokeswoman for the State Council told The Associated Press earlier on condition of anonymity in line with department policy.

The State Council is China's Cabinet.

Jin's transfer comes six weeks before the opening of a twice-a-decade Communist Party congress. Besides setting policy, the meeting is also expected to result in new appointments of senior party and government positions.

Xie, Jin's replacement, has been director of the tax administration since March 2003. He is also an alternative member of the party's Central Committee.

Jin, 63, is one of about 200 members of the Communist Party's Central Committee, and formerly headed the tax administration.

There was no immediate word on what factors had influenced Jin's resignation, but similar cases in the past have been attributed to marital, health or family problems. Jin is still two years below the official retirement age for officials at the central government level.

Asked Wednesday about rumors of Jin's departure, Central Bank Vice Governor Su Ning said monetary policy would not be affected by personnel changes at the Finance Ministry, a reflection of how decisions about the direction of China's economy are determined at a higher level.

Geng was vice minister of the State Security Ministry. Few other details were known about him.

Ma Wen was appointed supervision minister, replacing Li Zhilun, who died of an illness in April, He said.

Zhang Qingwei was appointed director — a ministerial-level position — in charge of the State Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, replacing Zhang Yunchuan.

The fifth change was the appointment of Yin Weimin as minister of personnel, replacing Zhang Bolin, who is retiring.

Jin's time in office saw huge growth and development in the economy as well as concerns about overheating.

On Wednesday, the central bank said inflation was likely to exceed the government's 3 percent target for the year despite a series of credit tightening measures to tamp down prices and cool enthusiasm for buying shares.

Jin's tenure at the Finance Ministry also saw China's foreign currency reserves surge past $1.3 trillion, a sign both of China's foreign trade juggernaut and the government's failure to balance flows of money into and out of the economy.

He oversaw preparations for the creation of one of the world's largest investment funds to make more profitable use of its foreign currency reserves that are now parked in safe, but relatively low-yielding U.S. Treasury securities and other dollar-denominated assets.

China's massive trade surplus with the United States which hit $235 billion last year and is expected to grow this year, has put Beijing under pressure to revalue its currency. Critics say the Chinese yuan is deliberately undervalued against the U.S. dollar and other currencies to spur trade by making Chinese exports unfairly cheap.

Beijing says its currency regime is fair, but has allowed a gradual strengthening of the yuan.

Also Thursday, China removed four officials accused of corruption from its legislature, the official Xinhua News Agency said, apparently signaling the ruling Communist Party's resolve to battle the widespread problem.

Chen Liangyu, a former party boss of Shanghai who has been jailed and is awaiting trial on corruption charges, was stripped of his last official post as a deputy to the National People's Congress, Xinhua said. Chen was kicked out of the party last month and fired from all government positions after he was dismissed as Shanghai party secretary in 2006.

He is the highest-level Chinese official to be dismissed in a decade. His ouster reflects the ruling Communist Party's push to crack down on deeply rooted corruption ahead of a major, twice-a-decade meeting of party leaders in October.

Also kicked out of the People's Congress were Duan Yihe, head of the city council in Shandong's capital, Jinan; Sun Shengchang, a former mayor in northeast China's Heilongjiang province; and Bao Jianmin, former director of the Henan Provincial Bureau of Quality Supervision, Xinhua said.

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Associated Press writer Audra Ang contributed to this report.

Report: Iran cooperates on nuke probe By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer

Report: Iran cooperates on nuke probe By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer
16 minutes ago



VIENNA, Austria - The U.N. nuclear agency on Thursday called Iran's cooperation with its investigation of past suspicious atomic activities "a significant step forward," in a report expected to hamper U.S.-led efforts for new sanctions on Tehran.

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At the same time, the report confirmed that Iran continued to expand its uranium enrichment program, reflecting the Islamic republic's defiance of the U.N. Security Council. Still, U.N. officials said, both enrichment and the building of a plutonium-producing reactor was continuing more slowly than expected.

IAEA Deputy Director General Olli Heinonen, who brokered the cooperation deal with Iranian officials, highlighted the importance of the agreement, noting that Tehran's past refusal to answer the agency's questions triggered Security Council sanctions in the first place.

But he cautioned that Iran still needed to fully implement its commitments, telling reporters that "the key is that Iran ... provides the information that we need" in a time frame that foresees clarity for the first time about Iran's past suspicious activities by year's end.

Drawn up by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, much of the report focused on the already publicized action plan finalized just a few weeks ago between the agency and Iran, restating progress in some areas and agreed on time frames for Iran to respond to additional questions.

In that plan, Iran agreed to come up with information sought by agency experts on past secret aspects of its enrichment program by November.

If that, and all other deadlines are adhered to and Iran provides all the information sought, the agency should be able to close the file on its more than four-year probe of Tehran's past nuclear activities by year's end, said a senior U.N. official.

He and other U.N. officials — all demanding anonymity because they were not authorized to comment to media — declined comment, however, whether a clean bill that banishes suspicions about Iran's former nuclear programs and experiments would be enough to stop the threat of new U.N. sanctions.

Two such sets of penalties have been imposed since last year, and the U.S. and its closest allies said more are needed because of Tehran's defiance of council demands that it mothball its uranium enrichment program and stop building a plutonium-producing reactor. Both can create the product that can serve as the fissile component of nuclear warheads.

Concertgoer sues Lil' Wayne for injuries 23 minutes ago

Concertgoer sues Lil' Wayne for injuries 23 minutes ago



BALTIMORE - A woman has filed a lawsuit alleging she was trampled by a frenzied crowd after a large amount of cash was thrown into the crowd during a concert by rapper Lil' Wayne at Morgan State University last October.

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Tyrique Layne was a 17-year-old freshman at Morgan State when she attended the show. According to the lawsuit, someone — either Lil' Wayne or members of his entourage — threw money into the crowd during the rapper's performance, a stunt known as "making it rain."

Layne alleges in the suit, filed Tuesday in Baltimore Circuit Court, that she was trampled, lost consciousness and suffered a "serious closed head injury" that required hospitalization. She has suffered since from memory loss, lapses in concentration and frequent and severe headaches, according to the complaint.

Along with Lil' Wayne, whose given name is Dwayne Michael Carter, the suit names Universal Records Inc., Cash Money Records Inc. and Young Money Touring Inc. Layne is seeking $1 million in damages.

Lil' Wayne was the opening act for Busta Rhymes at the concert. Two other women were injured in the melee, according to reports at the time.

Lil' Wayne and rapper Ja Rule were charged with felony handgun violations after a concert in Manhattan last month.

Haditha squad leader headed to court By THOMAS WATKINS, Associated Press Writer

Haditha squad leader headed to court By THOMAS WATKINS, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 1 minute ago



LOS ANGELES - By his own account, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich told his junior Marines to shoot first and ask questions later as they assaulted several houses in Haditha, Iraq, killing the occupants with grenades and gunfire.

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Now, nearly two years later, a hearing officer at Camp Pendleton was to begin taking evidence Thursday to determine whether the squad leader should stand trial on murder charges in the Nov. 19, 2005, attack that left 24 Iraqis dead.

Wuterich, 27, of Meriden, Conn., faces unpremeditated murder charges in 18 of the deaths, the biggest case to have emerged against any U.S. troop who served in Iraq.

Among the dead were women and children, who died as they scrambled for cover on and around a bed. It was Wuterich's first combat engagement.

The hearing officer, Lt. Col. Paul Ware, must decide if Wuterich strayed from military rules of engagement.

"These Marines were doing exactly as they were trained to do," Wuterich's military defense attorney Lt. Col. Colby Vokey said. "They were responding to an attack and a threat."

The killings occurred after a military convoy was hit by a roadside bomb that fatally wounded a Marine driver. Wuterich and another Marine shot a group of five men by a car at the scene. The squad leader then directed his men to clear several houses in hopes of killing whomever had set off the bomb.

Wuterich was among four Marines charged with murder, while four officers were charged with dereliction of duty for failing to investigate the deaths. Prosecutors have since dropped charges against two of the enlisted Marines and one officer.

Wuterich told investigators in February 2006 that he believed he was taking small-arms fire from a house near the explosion so he told a four-man team to treat the building and its occupants as hostile, meaning they did not need to identify the occupants as insurgents before opening fire.

"I told them to shoot first, ask questions later," he told investigators.

Wuterich is also charged with making a false official statement and telling another Marine to do the same. He faces a possible life sentence and dishonorable discharge if convicted at court-martial.

Ware already has presided over two separate hearings in the case, when he listened to evidence against two of Wuterich's lance corporals — Stephen Tatum and Justin Sharratt — who were charged with murder. In both cases, Ware found prosecutors could not prove the Marines operated outside combat rules, and he recommended the charges be dismissed.

The general overseeing the case dismissed charges against Sharratt but has yet to rule in Tatum's case.

Tom Umberg, a former Army prosecutor, said Ware's assessment that Tatum and Sharratt did not deliberately violate combat rules could help Wuterich because he was involved in some of the same actions.

But, Umberg said, military officials often look with greater scrutiny at the actions of higher-ranking troops.

"The person in charge always bears the most significant responsibility," Umberg said.

A former squad mate was to testify against Wuterich. Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz was initially charged with murder, but prosecutors dropped the charges and gave him immunity to testify against Wuterich.

According to testimony in a previous hearing, Dela Cruz claims Wuterich shot the men by the car while they had their hands in the air.

"They were just standing, looking around, had hands up," Dela Cruz said at a hearing in May. "Then I saw one of them drop in the middle. I didn't know what was going on, sir. Looked to my left, saw Staff Sgt. Wuterich shooting."

Neal Puckett, one of Wuterich's nonmilitary attorneys, said he was not concerned about Dela Cruz's testimony and was confident that forensic evidence would contradict his version of events.

"It's a Dela Cruz/Wuterich credibility contest," said Thad Coakley, a major in the Marine reserves and a former Camp Pendleton prosecutor.

Pakistan's Musharraf rejects 'ultimatum' By STEPHEN GRAHAM, Associated Press Writer

Pakistan's Musharraf rejects 'ultimatum' By STEPHEN GRAHAM, Associated Press Writer
59 minutes ago



ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - President Gen. Pervez Musharraf rejects "any pressure or ultimatum" to decide whether to quit as army chief, his spokesman said Thursday, after an opponent said he would step down as head of the military under a pact to restore Pakistan to democracy.

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Still, officials were either unavailable or declined to comment directly on the accuracy of Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assertion Wednesday that Musharraf had already decided to leave his powerful military post.

Musharraf and Bhutto are in the midst of negotiating an agreement that could end military rule eight years after Musharraf seized power in a coup and see him share power with the opposition.

Musharraf's office released a statement rejecting reports that Bhutto's call for concrete commitments by the end of this week amounted to an ultimatum to decide whether to remove his uniform.

While the president believed in dialogue "on all important national issues, he never worked under any pressure or ultimatum," his spokesman Rashid Qureshi said in a faxed statement.

Musharraf will make "all decisions only in national interest at appropriate times and according to the constitution and the law," Qureshi said.

At stake is a pact that would protect Musharraf's troubled re-election bid from looming legal challenges and public disenchantment with military rule. In return, Musharraf is expected to give up his role as army chief and let Bhutto return from exile in London to contest year-end parliamentary elections.

Bhutto told The Associated Press on Wednesday in London that she was "very pleased that Gen. Musharraf has taken the decision to listen to the people of Pakistan by taking the decision to take off the uniform."

"I expect that he will step down (as army chief) before the presidential elections, but that is for the president to say," she said in a telephone interview.

Ministers in Pakistan have confirmed that the two sides were close to finalizing an agreement.

Musharraf has insisted that the constitution allows him to be army chief until the end of 2007 but has never made clear when — or if — he will step down.

However, Bhutto and other opposition leaders argue the constitution obliges him to give up that post before he asks lawmakers for a fresh presidential mandate in September or October.

Bhutto said that while Musharraf had also agreed to drop corruption charges against her and dozens of other parliamentarians, a remaining stumbling block is the balance of power between Parliament and the president, who can currently dismiss the prime minister and dissolve the legislature.

Bhutto said she hoped for a breakthrough in the negotiations "in the next few days" and that Musharraf's silence on his military role "could be a tactical rather that strategic retreat" until all issues have been resolved.

Musharraf has seen his authority erode since March, when he tried unsuccessfully to remove the Supreme Court's top judge. The move triggered protests that grew into a broad pro-democracy campaign.

The court reinstated the judge in July, raising expectations that it will uphold legal challenges to Musharraf's re-election plan.

Officials say the pact with Bhutto would include constitutional amendments to forestall those challenges.

Last week, the court ruled that Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister toppled in 1999 who is also living in exile, can return to Pakistan.

The prospect of Sharif, who denounces Musharraf as a tyrant, making a tumultuous return has added to the urgency of an accommodation between Musharraf and Bhutto, who share a relatively liberal, pro-Western outlook and stress the need to prevent the political crisis from destabilizing the nuclear-armed nation.

Musharraf had vowed to prevent either former leader from re-entering Pakistan. He blames them for the corruption and economic problems that nearly bankrupted the country in the 1990s, when Bhutto and Sharif each had two short-lived turns as prime minister.

But with the United States pressing for more democracy as well as a redoubled effort against al-Qaida and Taliban militants near the Afghan border, Musharraf recently began calling for political reconciliation and an alliance of moderates to defeat extremists.

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Associated Press writer Paisley Dodds in London contributed to this report.

Bush to tour New Orleans, Gulf Coast By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer

Bush to tour New Orleans, Gulf Coast By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer
20 minutes ago



NEW ORLEANS - President Bush is marking Hurricane Katrina's devastating blow two years ago by celebrating those he says have "dedicated their lives to the renewal of New Orleans" even as he and others are criticized for not doing more to get the city and Gulf Coast back to their former selves.

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Bush and his wife, Laura, are to spend Wednesday's anniversary remembering the storm in New Orleans and Bay St. Louis, Miss.

It is the president's 15th visit to the Gulf Coast since the massive hurricane obliterated coastal Mississippi, drowned most of the Big Easy and killed 1,600 people in Louisiana and Mississippi when it roared onto land the morning of Aug. 29, 2005 — but only his second stop in these parts since last year's anniversary.

The performance by the president and the federal government in the immediate aftermath of the storm — and some residents' lingering sense of abandonment since — severely dented Bush's image as a take-charge leader.

As on other visits, the president and his team arrived here armed with facts and figures to show how much the Bush administration has done to fulfill the promises the president made two-and-a-half weeks after the hurricane.

"We will do what it takes, we will stay as long as it takes, to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives," Bush said then from historic Jackson Square in New Orleans' French Quarter. "This great city will rise again."

In fact, there is some good news here. The city's population is rebounding, and a few neighborhoods thrive. New Orleans has recovered much of its economic base and sales tax revenues are approaching normal. The French Quarter survived Katrina, and the music and restaurant scenes are recovering.

But much of New Orleans still looks like a wasteland, with businesses shuttered and houses abandoned. Basic services like schools, libraries, public transportation and childcare are at half their original levels and only two-thirds of the region's licensed hospitals are open. Rental properties are in severely short supply, driving rents for those that are available way up. Crime is rampant and police operate out of trailers.

Along Mississippi's 70-mile shoreline, harsh economic realities also are hampering rebuilding.

Many projects are hamstrung by the soaring costs of construction and insurance, while federal funding has been slow to flow to cities. Other economic indicators are down — such as population, employment and housing supplies.

Bush's Gulf Coast rebuilding chief, Don Powell, noted the federal government has committed a total of $114 billion to the region, $96 billion of which is already disbursed or available to local governments. Most of it has been for disaster relief, not long-term recovery. He implied it is local officials' fault, particularly in Louisiana where the pace has been slower, if money has not reached citizens.

Powell also said the president intends to ask for the approximately $5 billion federal share of the $7.6 billion more needed to strengthen New Orleans' levee system to withstand a 100-year storm and improve the area's drainage system. Though the levees are not yet ready for the next massive storm, they are slated to be strengthened by 2015.

But Powell said other areas — such as infrastructure repair and home rebuilding — are shared responsibilities with local officials or entirely the purview of state and local governments, suggesting that the federal government is absolved when those things don't happen.

The president and Mrs. Bush began this anniversary's visit with dinner Tuesday night with about two dozen politicians, athletes, musicians, developers and others at Dooky Chase, once a gathering place for civil rights leaders now famous for its traditional Creole cooking.

Craig and GOP await voters' judgment By TODD DVORAK, Associated Press Writer

Craig and GOP await voters' judgment By TODD DVORAK, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 37 minutes ago



BOISE, Idaho - Sen. Larry Craig has apologized to Idaho and now waits — along with officials of both political parties — to see if voters are in any mood to forgive and forget the scandal tied to his arrest in a men's bathroom.

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Idaho Republicans possess a fiercely independent streak, characterized by a healthy dose of libertarian values and distrust of the federal government and the media. They generally hold deep religious beliefs and conservative social values.

"It all makes it hard sometimes to predict exactly how Idahoans would vote or how Idaho politicians will act on certain issues," said James Weatherby, a professor emeritus at Boise State University who knew Craig when they were students at the University of Idaho.

Craig, 62, a third-term senator up for re-election next year, defended himself Tuesday against a police report alleging he attempted to engage in a homosexual encounter with an undercover officer.

Flanked by his wife, Suzanne, Craig stated three times that he was not gay. He cast his arrest for lewd conduct as unfounded and his subsequent guilty plea to disorderly conduct as an error in judgment spurred by frustration with the state's biggest newspaper prying into his past.

The Idaho Statesman published a lengthy story on Tuesday, a day after the June 11 arrest was first reported, detailing allegations of homosexual behavior by Craig. The senator denied the allegations and contended the paper was engaged in a witch hunt. In a statement, the newspaper said its story spoke for itself.

"While I was not involved in any inappropriate conduct at the Minneapolis airport or anywhere else, I chose to plead guilty to a lesser charge in hopes of making it go away," Craig said. "It's clear, though, that through my actions I have brought a cloud over Idaho. For that, I ask the people of Idaho for their forgiveness."

The Idaho Republican Party took a measured, wait-and-see stance while Democrats remained mum, content to let Republicans sort through the fallout. The GOP's biggest names reminded voters of Craig's tenure in the Senate and his powerful seat on the Appropriations Committee.

"I would encourage all Idahoans to avoid rushing to judgment and making brash statements about a man who has dedicated his life to public service," GOP state party chairman Kirk Sullivan said in a statement.

Ignoring that plea, some social and religious conservatives and right-wing radio talk show hosts called for Craig's resignation. And political analysts said Craig will have trouble convincing Gem State voters that his 27-year political career is worth sparing.

"I think what makes it very difficult is the guilty plea," said Randy Stapilus, a former political editor at the Idaho Statesman who has a political blog. "That is something a lot of people will have a tough time getting around."

In Idaho, with its 1.4 million people, politicians know many supporters by name. The state also likes its Republicans. The GOP controls the statehouse and Congress, and President Bush carried the state in 2004 with 68 percent of the vote.

More than 166,000 residents are Roman Catholic and more than 385,000 Mormon.

"This isn't Massachusetts, that's for sure," said Chris Preston, a merchant in downtown Boise. "And because of that I think it's going to be tough for the state to forgive his transgressions."

And perhaps even for those in his own party. Republican leaders in the Senate called for an Ethics Committee review of the case.

"This is a serious matter," they said in a written statement issued in Washington over the names of Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the party leader, and several others.

Two Republicans seeking the party's presidential nomination didn't mince words. Mitt Romney, in whose campaign Craig was playing a prominent role until he quit amid the scandal, told CNBC, "He's disappointed the American people." On Jay Leno's "The Tonight Show," Sen. John McCain said, "It's disgraceful."

Reports state that police Sgt. Dave Karsnia was investigating allegations of sexual conduct in Minneapolis airport restrooms when he went into a stall. The complaint against Craig alleged that he employed "a signal often used by persons communicating a desire to engage in sexual conduct."

Craig was arrested, read his rights, fingerprinted and photographed for a mug shot released by police showing him in coat and tie. He signed a guilty plea on Aug. 1 and later paid $575 in fines and fees and was placed on unsupervised probation for a year.

NASA report due on alcohol, astronauts By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer

NASA report due on alcohol, astronauts By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
1 hour, 11 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - NASA is set to release results of an internal investigation into whether a couple of astronauts were drinking heavily just before launch, but no one expects new details to emerge.

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In recent weeks, top NASA officials said they could find no proven instances of drunken astronauts about to fly. They said they had examined what happened before launches in the past decade. As of late Tuesday, officials were still confident that no big embarrassments would emerge in the report due out Wednesday.

In July, an independent panel said there were at least two unverified and unidentified instances of astronauts drinking heavily before a flight. The panel was formed to look at astronaut health issues because of the bizarre case of astronaut Lisa Nowak, who was arrested and charged with attempted kidnapping of a romantic rival.

The panel's 12-page report last month said: "Interviews with both flight surgeons and astronauts identified some episodes of heavy use of alcohol by astronauts in the immediate preflight period, which has led to safety concerns."

One instance involved a shuttle astronaut that a colleague claimed had had to much too drink; the colleague alerted others only after the launch was delayed because of mechanical instances.

The other involved an astronaut drinking alcohol before flying on a Russian Soyuz capsule to the international space station. Drinking, especially toasts, are common in the Russian space program.

In both cases — in which no names were given — the report said that flight surgeons and/or fellow astronauts raised safety worries with nearby officials in charge, yet "the individuals were still permitted to fly."

The panel didn't have the ability to investigate further, so NASA's safety chief, Bryan O'Connor, a former astronaut and shuttle accident investigator, was asked to investigate. O'Connor spent much of his time in Houston, where astronauts work, said NASA spokesman David Mould.

NASA administrator Michael Griffin this month pronounced pre-launch preparations for astronauts to be so visible that it is nearly impossible to sneak a drink.

"They would have to really want to drink and hide it really well," Griffin said before the launch of the shuttle Endeavour. He called the charges "uncredible."

Little has changed since then, Mould said Tuesday.

Asian markets tumble after U.S. sell-off 1 hour, 32 minutes ago

Asian markets tumble after U.S. sell-off 1 hour, 32 minutes ago



TOKYO - Asian markets dropped Wednesday following a plunge on Wall Street amid simmering concerns over global credit market turmoil and fears the U.S. Federal Reserve won't do enough to ease a credit crunch. European markets, meanwhile, were mixed in early trade.

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Asian markets pared losses as the day progressed, with Korean shares recovering nearly completely, suggesting a measure of investor confidence.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index was 1.7 percent lower at the close after dropping as much as 2.8 percent earlier in the day. Hong Kong's key index was down 1.5 percent at its close after losing as much as 2.9 percent. And South Korea's benchmark finished just 0.2 percent lower after dropping as much as 3.1 percent.

In early European trade, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 and France's CAC 40 were both up 0.34 percent, while Germany's DAX was down 0.5 percent.

In New York Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average sank 280.28, or 2.10 percent, to 13,041.85, its biggest drop since Aug. 9. Investors grew more uneasy about whether the Fed, the U.S. central bank, will take the steps needed to prevent credit market problems from spreading further.

Global markets have been volatile in recent weeks as rising defaults on U.S. subprime mortgages has hit some brokerages and hedge funds that held mortgage-backed securities and made banks less willing to lend money.

"Everyone is scared. It's like walking in the dark because we have yet to get the full picture of the subprime loan problems," said Shoji Yoshikoshi, senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi Capital UFJ Securities Co. in Tokyo.

Worries about a slowdown in the U.S. economy — a key Asian export market — heightened after a report Tuesday said U.S. consumer confidence sagged in August.

Investors in the U.S. were disappointed that minutes from the Fed's last meeting Aug. 7, released Tuesday, didn't discuss a cut in the benchmark federal funds rate. The meeting predated a number of actions taken by the central bank to try to alleviate market turbulence, including the Aug. 17 lowering of the discount rate, the interest the Fed charges banks to borrow money. But Wall Street seems to be growing more dissatisfied because the Fed has not yet lowered the funds rate.

Yoshikoshi said share prices will remain volatile until mid-September or October. Players are now investing in bonds in Japan, Europe and the U.S., considering them safer than shares, he said.

"But that is only temporary and once we get the full picture of the problems, investors will return to stocks," he said.

The market volatility also strengthened the yen as investors backed away from yen-carry trades. To exit the trades, investors have to buy yen to repay cheap yen loans. The dollar was trading at 114.37 yen at 4:50 p.m. (0750 GMT), down from 114.56 yen Tuesday in New York.

The yen's strength in turn caused traders to dump exporters like Toyota Motor Corp. and Sony Corp., which fell 2.0 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively. The stronger yen makes Japanese exports more expensive and less competitive overseas.

In South Korea, Samsung Electronics Co., the country's biggest corporation, fell 2.4 percent, and Hyundai heavy Industries Co., the world's largest shipbuilder, rose 2.0 percent. A second shipbuilder, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering company, gained 4.9 percent, and helped lift the Korea Composite Stock Price Index, or Kospi, from its early morning lows.

Major indices fell in Australia, China, Indonesia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand

Pakistan's Musharraf, Bhutto reach deal By STEPHEN GRAHAM, Associated Press Writer

Pakistan's Musharraf, Bhutto reach deal By STEPHEN GRAHAM, Associated Press Writer
13 minutes ago



ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf and former political rival Benazir Bhutto have reached agreement regarding Musharraf's military role, a key step toward a power-sharing agreement, a senior official said Wednesday.

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"Both sides have agreed on the issue of uniform," Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, a close Musharraf ally, told reporters. Bhutto was quoted in a British newspaper making a similar comment, though neither she nor Ahmed elaborated.

Envoys for the U.S.-allied military president and former Prime Minister Bhutto, who is planning a return from exile abroad, are trying to work out a pact that would help Musharraf secure another five-year presidential term.

Bhutto and other opposition leaders argue that the constitution obliges Musharraf, who seized power in a coup in 1999, to give up his post as military chief before he asks lawmakers for a fresh mandate in September or October.

Musharraf, however, has insisted that the constitution allows him to remain in uniform until the end of 2007 and has left open what will happen after that.

Bhutto was quoted in Wednesday's Daily Telegraph as saying that the "uniform issue is resolved."

"The uniform issue is key and there has been a lot of movement on it in the recent round of talks," Bhutto told the London-based daily.

Both Bhutto and Rashid said the two sides were close to an agreement but that there were still outstanding issues.

Musharraf's future is clouded by a clamor for an end to military rule, fallout from a lost battle against the judiciary and the plans of Nawaz Sharif, another former premier, to also mount a dramatic political comeback.

Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N party insisted Tuesday that it was not involved in reported talks in London with envoys sent by Musharraf.

Sharif's party and Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party have scheduled crunch meetings in the next few days in London — where the two former premiers have been living — to decide when their leaders will return.

In the past, Musharraf vowed to prevent them from re-entering Pakistan. He blames them for the corruption and economic problems that nearly bankrupted the country in the 1990s, when Bhutto and Sharif each had two short-lived turns as prime minister.

But with the United States pressing for more democracy and redoubled efforts against al-Qaida and Taliban militants near the Afghan border, Musharraf recently began calling for political reconciliation and an alliance of moderates to defeat extremists.

Musharraf's authority has greatly eroded since March, when he tried unsuccessfully to remove the Supreme Court's top judge. The move triggered protests that snowballed into a broad campaign against Musharraf's rule.

The court reinstated the judge in July, raising expectations that it also will uphold legal challenges to Musharraf's re-election plan likely to be filed by Sharif as well as religious parties opposed to Pakistan's close alliance with Washington.

Last week, the court ruled that Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf toppled in 1999, can come home, despite a promise in 2000 that he would stay away for a decade in return for his release from jail.

Beijing police launch Web patrols 59 minutes ago

Beijing police launch Web patrols 59 minutes ago



BEIJING - Police in China's capital said Tuesday they will start patrolling the Web using animated beat officers that pop up on a user's browser and walk, bike or drive across the screen warning them to stay away from illegal Internet content.

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Starting Sept. 1, the cartoon alerts will appear every half hour on 13 of China's top portals, including Sohu and Sina, and by the end of the year will appear on all Web sites registered with Beijing servers, the Beijing Public Security Ministry said in a statement.

China stringently polices the Internet for material and content that the ruling Communist Party finds politically or morally threatening. Despite the controls, nudity, profanity, illegal gambling and pirated music, books and film have proliferated on Chinese Internet servers.

The animated police appeared designed to startle Web surfers and remind them that authorities closely monitor Web activity. However, the statement did not say whether there were plans to boost monitoring further.

The male and female cartoon officers, designed for the ministry by Sohu, will offer a text warning to surfers to abide by the law and tips on Internet security as they move across the screen in a virtual car, motorcycle or on foot, it said.

If Internet users need police help they can click on the cartoon images and will be redirected to the authority's Web site, it said.

"We will continue to promote new images of the virtual police and update our Internet security tips in an effort to make the image of the virtual police more user friendly and more in tune with how web surfers use the Internet," it said.

China has the world's second-largest population of Internet users, with 137 million people online, and is on track to surpass the United States as the largest online population in two years.

The government routinely blocks surfers from accessing overseas sites and closes down domestic Web sites deemed obscene or subversive.

Olmert, Abbas tackle top divisive issues By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer

Olmert, Abbas tackle top divisive issues By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer
16 minutes ago



JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas tackled the biggest issues dividing the two sides at their meeting on Tuesday — final borders, Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees, an Israeli official said.

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It was the first time the two men discussed these matters in depth, the official said.

"These core issues have to be discussed on the way to finding a diplomatic solution of two states for two peoples," an official in the prime minister's office quoted Olmert as saying. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the two leaders spoke privately.

Olmert, who has met several times with Abbas in the past few months, has been reluctant to take on these big issues, preferring to focus on general outlines. Israel's approach has riled the Palestinians, who want to go straight to the core issues of Palestinian statehood.

Heading into the meeting, Abbas warned that an international Mideast peace conference scheduled for November would be a "waste of time" if it failed to address the big three issues, which have stymied peace efforts in the past.

As he entered Olmert's Jerusalem residence for the meeting, Abbas signed the guestbook in Arabic with a wish for peace between the two peoples, the Israeli official said.

The official in Olmert's office said the two sides hoped by the end of October to outline a framework for the end of the conflict and the establishment of a Palestinian state. The three major issues will be at the heart of this document, he said.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told reporters the two leaders did not discuss the issues in detail or prepare any documents. But he said the sides must gird themselves to act, not talk.

"We are at a stage to reach decisions," Erekat said.

He did not deny that Israelis and Palestinians were conducting backchannel talks to try to move peacemaking ahead, but said they were not official negotiations.

President Bush has called for a Mideast peace conference, expected to take place in November, to advance a final Israeli-Palestinian accord. Olmert and Abbas plan to meet three times before then, the Israeli official said.

A successful outcome of the international conference is far from assured. The violent seizure of the Gaza Strip by Islamic Hamas militants in June created dueling governments, with Hamas ruling Gaza and Abbas loyalists in charge in the West Bank. Olmert, weakened by last summer's botched war against Lebanese guerrillas, might not be able to make the sweeping territorial concessions a final accord would demand.

On the other hand, prospects for peacemaking have been boosted by Abbas' expulsion of Hamas, which killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings, from government. And the key players in this drama — Olmert, Abbas and Bush — all appear to be hungry for some kind of diplomatic achievement.

Olmert made it clear to Abbas in their meeting that Israel would break off all peacemaking if the Palestinian leader brought Hamas into his government, the Israeli official said.

The U.S. has been prodding Israel and the Palestinians to make progress before the November conference. Olmert's office said Tuesday's meeting was part of an attempt to reach understandings before then.

The meetings between Abbas and Olmert in recent months are an attempt to boost Abbas against Hamas. This was the first time a major development has been reported, sweeping aside official denials that the issues that have tormented peacemakers for decades were on the table.

The biggest obstacles in past peace negotiations have been what the final borders of a future Palestinian state would look like; whether Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war that accompanied Israel's creation would be allowed to return to their homes along with their millions of descendants; and whether the holy city of Jerusalem could be shared.

Bush: Fight against extremism is crucial By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer

Bush: Fight against extremism is crucial By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 17 minutes ago



RENO, Nev. - President Bush aims to inspire patience with the war Tuesday by arguing that the fight against extremists in Iraq is crucial to U.S. security and the future of a strategic, struggling region. Bush is speaking before thousands of veterans Tuesday at the American Legion convention. It his second major speech in a week devoted to an attempt to buttress support for the war.

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Last week before the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention, he likened today's fight against extremism in Iraq to past conflicts in Japan, Korea and Vietnam.

On Tuesday, he plans to discuss the implications of the fight in Iraq for the broader Middle East, a global crossroads that has largely missed the democratic and economic advances seen in other parts of the world and is thus vulnerable to the rise of terrorism, said a senior administration official. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting the president.

The pair of speeches is intended to set the stage for a crucial Sept. 15 assessment of the fighting, particularly whether the additional U.S. forces that Bush ordered to Iraq in January are improving security enough to create an environment for lasting political progress. The report, required by law to be presented to Congress, also is to measure Iraq's performance on U.S. benchmarks for military and political development.

Democrats, as well as some Republicans, are pressing to start the withdrawal of U.S. forces. The president is expected to announce shortly after the report's release whether he intends to do so.

Bush added 30,000 troops to help calm Baghdad and a western province, making the total now more than 160,000. At least 3,728 military members have died in the war.

In the next week, Bush and his senior advisers are likely to hear the initial thinking from Ryan Crocker, Bush's envoy in Baghdad, and the top U.S. general in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, another senior administration official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a schedule still in flux.

Bush leaves Monday to spend nearly a week in Australia, but Crocker and Petraeus are expected to testify to Congress as soon as Sept. 10 on the military and political landscape in Iraq more than four years after the start of the war, officials said. The two will give two days of testimony before their report is sent to lawmakers.

The two have already telegraphed many of their conclusions, and Bush has made it increasingly clear that he is likely to say that he wants more time for the additional forces to have an impact.

In fact, the first official said the president in his Tuesday speech would note the security gains from the surge, as well as early signs of political progress, while asking lawmakers to hold off on any judgments until hearing from Crocker and Petraeus.

But he was also to make a broader argument about the importance of the fighting in Iraq. He was to argue that Iraq is at the heart of rising extremist movements in both the Sunni and Shiite Muslim communities, the former dominated by al-Qaida and the latter by Iran, the official said.

"Failure in Iraq would cause the enemy not to retreat but to follow us to America," Bush said Monday night in Bellevue, Wash., in remarks at a fundraiser for GOP Rep. Dave Reichert.

Earlier Monday, he sought to highlight nascent moves toward political reconciliation in Iraq, heralding an agreement over the weekend among leading Iraqi politicians. He called Sunday's pact on some issues that have blocked national reconciliation a good step, but not enough.

"I reminded them, and they understand, much more needs to be done," Bush said on an airport tarmac in New Mexico, where he was raising campaign cash for Republican Sen. Pete Domenici. He added that it will be up to the Iraqi parliament to codify the new agreements when it reconvenes in early September.

Both Bush and Iraq's leaders are under increasing pressure to show progress amid slow deliberations and political squabbling in Baghdad and sinking support for the war among Americans and in Congress.

The Iraqi leaders said on Sunday that they agreed on some issues that the U.S. has set as targets, among them holding provincial elections, releasing prisoners held without charge and changing the law preventing many former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party from holding government jobs and elected office.

No details were released and committees must hash out final versions of legislation to be presented to the Iraqi parliament. Iraqi officials have announced similar deals in the past, only to have them fall apart.

The deal also was not enough to convince the main Sunni Arab political bloc to take back posts in government that they abandoned this month over differences with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

___

AP Diplomatic Writer Anne Gearan in Washington contributed to this report.

Arrest clouds Idaho senator's future By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press Writer

Arrest clouds Idaho senator's future By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 13 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, who has voted against gay marriage and opposes extending special protections to gay and lesbian crime victims, finds his political future in doubt after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges stemming from complaints of lewd conduct in a men's room.

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The conservative three-term senator, who has represented Idaho in Congress for more than a quarter-century, is up for re-election next year. He hasn't said if he will run for a fourth term in 2008 and was expected to announce his plans this fall.

A spokesman, Sidney Smith, was uncertain late Monday if Craig's guilty plea in connection with an incident at the Minneapolis airport would affect his re-election plans.

"It's too early to talk about anything about that," Smith said.

A political science professor in Idaho said Craig's political future was in jeopardy. And a spokesman for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, Hannah August, said Craig's guilty plea "has given Americans another reason not to vote Republican" next year.

The married Craig, 62, has faced rumors about his sexuality since the 1980s, but allegations that he has engaged in gay sex have never been substantiated. Craig has denied the assertions, which he calls ridiculous.

The arrest changes that dynamic, said Jasper LiCalzi, a political science professor at Albertson College of Idaho in Caldwell, Idaho. He cited the House page scandal that drove Florida Rep. Mark Foley from office.

"There's a chance that he'll resign over this," LiCalzi said. "With the pressure on the Republican Party, he could be pressured to resign. If they think this is going to be something that's the same as Mark Foley — the sort of 'drip, drip, drip, there's more information that's going to come out' — they may try to push him out."

Already Craig has stepped down from a prominent role with Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. He had been one of Romney's top Senate supporters, serving as a Senate liaison for the campaign since February.

"He did not want to be a distraction and we accept his decision," said Matt Rhoades, a Romney campaign spokesman.

According to a Hennepin County, Minn., court docket, Craig pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge on Aug. 8, with the court dismissing a charge of gross misdemeanor interference to privacy.

The court docket said Craig paid $575 in fines and fees and was put on unsupervised probation for a year. A sentence of 10 days in the county workhouse was stayed.

Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper, which first reported the case, said on its Web site Monday that Craig was arrested June 11 by a plainclothes officer investigating complaints of lewd conduct in a men's restroom at the airport.

Minneapolis airport police declined to provide a copy of the arrest report after business hours Monday.

Roll Call, citing the report, said Sgt. Dave Karsnia made the arrest after an encounter in which he was seated in a stall next to a stall occupied by Craig. Karsnia described Craig tapping his foot, which Karsnia said he "recognized as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct."

Roll Call quoted the Aug. 8 police report as saying that Craig had handed the arresting officer a business card that identified him as a member of the Senate.

"What do you think about that?" Craig is alleged to have said, according to the report.

Craig said in a statement issued by his office Monday that he was not involved in any inappropriate conduct.

"At the time of this incident, I complained to the police that they were misconstruing my actions," he said. "I should have had the advice of counsel in resolving this matter. In hindsight, I should not have pled guilty. I was trying to handle this matter myself quickly and expeditiously."

Craig joins other GOP senators facing ethical and legal troubles.

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, is under scrutiny for his relationship with a contractor who helped oversee a renovation project that more than doubled the size of the senator's home.

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., acknowledged that his phone number appeared in records of a Washington-area business that prosecutors have said was a front for prostitution.

Craig, a rancher and a member of the National Rifle Association, lives in Eagle, Idaho, near the capital of Boise. He was a member of the House for 10 years before winning election to the Senate in 1990. He was re-elected in 1996 and 2002.

Last fall, Craig called allegations from a gay-rights activist that he's had homosexual relationships "completely ridiculous."

Mike Rogers, who bills himself as a gay activist blogger, published the allegations on his Web site, http://www.blogactive.com, in October 2006.

Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, an advocacy group, on Monday called Craig a hypocrite.

"What's up with elected officials like Senator Craig? They stand for so-called family values and fight basic protections for gay people while furtively seeking other men for sex," Foreman said.

___

Associated Press writers Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis and John Miller in Boise contributed to this story.

Islamic-rooted president wins in Turkey By SUZAN FRASER, Associated Press Writer

Islamic-rooted president wins in Turkey By SUZAN FRASER, Associated Press Writer
1 minute ago



ANKARA, Turkey - A devout Muslim with a background in political Islam won the Turkish presidency on Tuesday, in a major triumph for the Islamic-rooted government after months of confrontation with the secular establishment.

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Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul received a majority of 339 votes in a parliamentary ballot, Parliament Speaker Koksal Toptan said. Ruling party legislators broke into applause.

"Abdullah Gul was elected Turkey's 11th president, with 339 votes," Toptan said. "I congratulate him."

The vote took place a day after the military, which has ousted four governments since 1960, issued a stern warning about the threat to secularism. Gul's initial bid for president was blocked over fears that he planned to dilute secular traditions.

"Our nation has been watching the behavior of those separatists who can't embrace Turkey's unitary nature, and centers of evil that systematically try to corrode the secular nature of the Turkish Republic," Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, chief of the military, said in a note on the military's Web site Monday.

Gul, 56, has promised to uphold secularism. But Turkey's president has the power to veto legislation, and Gul has failed to allay secularist fears that he would sign into law any legislation passed by the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan — a close ally — without concern for the separation of religion and politics.

Also, his wife wears an Islamic-style head scarf — which is banned in government offices and schools. Islamic attire has been restricted in Turkey since the country's first president, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, ushered in secularism and Western-style reforms in the 1930s.

Gul failed to win the presidency in two rounds of voting last week because the ruling Justice and Development party lacked the two-thirds majority in Parliament needed for him to secure the post. But the party — which holds 341 of the 550 seats — had a far easier hurdle on Tuesday, when only a simple majority was required.

Gul was scheduled to be sworn in as president in Parliament later Tuesday. He was to take over the presidency from outgoing President Ahmet Necdet Sezer soon after, in a low-key ceremony closed to the media.

Erdogan said he planned to submit his new Cabinet to Gul for his approval on Wednesday. Erdogan had presented his list earlier this month to Sezer, who said the new president should approve it.

In Gul's hometown of Kayseri, in Turkey's conservative heartland, hundreds gathered at a main square to celebrate his victory, private NTV television reported.

Secularist Turks staged mass rallies and the military threatened to intervene when Erdogan nominated Gul for president in the spring.

Gul insisted that he be re-nominated for president earlier this month, arguing that his party's victory in the elections gave him a strong mandate to run. He rejected calls from secularist parties to step aside in favor of a non-Islamist, compromise candidate.

"A person who has defied the (secular) republic, who has said he finds it to be wrong, is about to move to the top of the state. This is a contradiction," said Deniz Baykal, leader of the secular opposition. His party boycotted the vote on Tuesday and has said it would not take part in some state occasions, including presidential ceremonies.

As foreign minister, Gul — who speaks English and Arabic — has cultivated an image as a moderate politician.

In a recent meeting with foreign journalists, Gul said he would make use of his experiences as foreign minister to boost Turkey's EU bid and make the Turkish presidency more active on the international scene.

"Turkey will be more active; Turkey will be contributing more to world issues," he said.

Officer in Bush motorcade dies in crash 26 minutes ago

Officer in Bush motorcade dies in crash 26 minutes ago



ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A police officer accompanying President Bush's motorcade was involved in a fatal motorcycle crash less than a year after an accident in Hawaii killed another officer accompanying the president.

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Rio Rancho Officer Germaine Casey, 40, crashed at the Albuquerque airport at a point where a road enters an underground parking garage, said Trish Hoffman, a spokeswoman for the Albuquerque Police Department. He was pronounced dead later Monday at an Albuquerque hospital.

Bush had been headed to the airport after attending a fundraiser for Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M.

"Any time there is a presidential motorcade, the officers, that's part of their job, they drive at a high rate of speed," said Hoffman, whose department is investigating the crash.

Rio Rancho police department spokesman Officer John Francis said Casey's motorcycle hit a curb and then a tree, but investigators were reconstructing the accident to determine exactly what happened.

Photographers and reporters in the presidential motorcade said the officer's motorcycle appeared to be nearly destroyed, and the officer was on the ground, being helped by an emergency medical technician.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said the president saw the wreck after it had occurred, and a member of the White House medical staff went to assist.

Bush called Casey's wife, Lisa, from his limousine on the way to the airport in Seattle to offer condolences, Stanzel said.

The president issued a statement saying he was saddened by Casey's death and extraordinarily grateful for his protection.

"It is a high calling to choose to serve and protect your fellow citizens, and I will always be indebted to Officer Casey's service," the president said, adding that the officer's wife and two teenage children were in his thoughts and prayers.

The officer had been with the Rio Rancho Police Department since 2005 and worked with campus police at the University of New Mexico before that, Hoffman said.

Francis said Casey had received special training in riding in motorcades and had previously escorted Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney on separate occasions.

A Honolulu police officer, Steve Favela, died in November when he and two other motorcycle officers crashed while part of a presidential motorcade traveling across Hickam Air Force Base.

Home prices: Steepest drop in 20 years By VINNEE TONG, AP Business Writer

Home prices: Steepest drop in 20 years By VINNEE TONG, AP Business Writer
9 minutes ago



NEW YORK - U.S. home prices fell 3.2 percent in the second quarter, the steepest rate of decline since Standard & Poor's began its nationwide housing index in 1987, the research group said Tuesday.

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The decline in home prices around the nation shows no evidence of a market recovery anytime soon, one of the architects of the index said.

MacroMarkets LLC Chief Economist Robert Shiller said the declining residential real estate market "shows no signs of slowing down."

The report came a day after the National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes dropped for a fifth straight month in July while the number of unsold homes shot up to a record level.

The S&P/Case-Schiller quarterly index tracks price trends among existing single-family homes across the nation compared with a year earlier .

A separate index that covers 20 U.S. cities fell 3.5 percent in June from a year earlier. A 10-city index fell 4.1 percent from a year earlier.

Housing is among the economic indicators closely watched by Federal Reserve policymakers.

After five years of rapidly rising home prices, the market stalled last year, with prices holding steady or falling as sales slowed. Since then, lenders have made it more difficult for some people to get mortgages by tightening standards just as foreclosures rise and some who borrowed at adjustable rates facing higher payments they can't meet.

Problems have spread from those with poor credit repayment histories to more creditworthy borrowers.

The Fed has taken a number of steps aimed at stabilizing the situation, and market watchers look further for a possible cut in the federal funds rate, which is the rate commercial banks charge each other for short-term loans. That rate has been kept steady at 5.25 percent for more than a year.

The Fed has its next regularly scheduled meeting on Sept. 18.

Fifteen of the cities surveyed for S&P's 20-city index showed a year-over-year decline in prices in June.

Prices in Boston dropped in June at a slower rate than they did in May, continuing a trend that started at the beginning of the year. In April 2006, Boston was the first metropolitan area to show a year-over-year decline, so any turnaround there could be an early sign of recovery.

S&P said it needed more data to determine whether Boston would be the first area to improve.

Detroit led the cities with the biggest price declines, with an 11 percent drop from June of last year. Other cities with falling prices included Tampa, Fla., San Diego and Washington, D.C., which all recorded drops of at least 7 percent.

Seattle and Charlotte, N.C., were on the small list of cities that saw prices rise in the same period. Seattle prices rose 8 percent in June while Charlotte saw a 6.8 percent increase.

In Monday's report, the National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes dipped by 0.2 percent in July from June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.75 million units.

The median price of a home sold last month slid to $230,200, down by 0.6 percent from the median price a year ago. It marked the 12th consecutive month that home prices have declined, a record stretch.

Greek government criticized as fires rage on By Karolos Grohmann

Greek government criticized as fires rage on By Karolos Grohmann
1 hour, 39 minutes ago



KRESTENA, Greece (Reuters) - Greece's conservative government faced mounting criticism of incompetence on Tuesday as villagers fled fierce forest fires that have killed 63 people.

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The opposition Socialist PASOK party seized on the fires three weeks before a parliamentary election, pouring scorn on the government's efforts and saying accusations of arson were an excuse for its weakness in responding to the crisis.

"The government has proven tragically incapable of dealing with fires," PASOK leader George Papandreou told reporters. "It could not save people's lives, property and homes ... it's time for Greek people to choose a strong government that can guarantee security, confidence and hope."

Athens dailies also criticized the government with headlines such as "Paralyzed state, outrage at government" and "The elections of wrath."

The government has stuck by its plan to hold an early parliamentary election on September 16. An opinion poll said the ruling conservatives' lead over the socialists had slipped due, in part, to their handling of the crisis.

The poll, conducted by ALCO polling agency on behalf of Alter TV, showed the New Democracy party's lead over PASOK had narrowed to 0.8 from 1.3 percentage points in a previous poll.

Exhausted firefighters, now boosted by foreign help, have been trying to douse the fires for more than four days.

"I had to use 300 litres of wine to try to extinguish the fire around my house," said Georgios Dimopoulos from the village of Makistos in the southerly Peloponnese peninsula, hardest hit by the fires.

"For 17 hours I fought with the blaze. We were left at the mercy of the flames. I could not tell if it was day or night."

As the once picture-perfect Peloponnese and the island of Evia north of Athens burned, the government reacted to accusations it had failed to move fast enough by saying the simultaneous fires could not be a coincidence.

CALL FOR UNITY

"All of us Greeks must stay united ... As in our past, we must prove that we are one soul, one fist in a national crisis," Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said, announcing emergency relief measures.

The government offered rewards of up to 1 million euros ($1.4 million) for help in tracking down arsonists and asked a public prosecutor to see if they can be prosecuted as terrorists.

Many local mayors have accused rogue land developers of setting fires to make way for new construction. Three elderly people and two boys have been charged with starting fires.

Overstretched fire brigades said they were battling 25 fire fronts on Tuesday. Greece has declared a nationwide state of emergency and appeals for help have brought planes and firefighters from abroad.

A team of Cypriot firefighters was making fire break corridors in mountains north of Ancient Olympia, birthplace of the Olympic Games in the western Peloponnese. The 2,700-year-old archaeological complex narrowly escaped the flames on Sunday.

"The fire has receded, there is no wind in the area and we have the water bombers overhead, but we have to be vigilant," said fire chief Marcos Strangoulas.

"I'm on a high mountain and there are oak trees all around. Let's hope they stay that way," Strangoulas said.

ASEAN, China to boost product safety By TERESA CEROJANO, Associated Press Writer

ASEAN, China to boost product safety By TERESA CEROJANO, Associated Press Writer
Sun Aug 26, 5:26 AM ET



MANILA, Philippines - Southeast Asian countries and China agreed to strengthen product standards and safety, economic ministers said Sunday. The move follows recalls of several tainted Chinese products from international markets.

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Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai also defended the quality of Chinese goods, saying 99 percent of his country's exports to the U.S. and Japan pass quality controls and adhere to global quality standards.

A joint statement issued by economic ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China on Sunday, at the end of their annual consultations, said product quality and food safety are common challenges faced by every country. All parties should actively cooperate in improving risk control and ensuring quality, it added.

"The ministers agreed to urge relevant government agencies to properly deal with product quality-related cases by strengthening consultations with the view to protecting the safety and health of consumers while not impeding bilateral trade and economic cooperation," it said.

At a joint news conference by the ministers, Bo pointed out that 50 percent of products manufactured in China are made by foreign enterprises, and more than 60 percent of exports are made and inspected according to standards set by foreign importers and buyers.

"In the past 29 years, the annual growth rate of Chinese exports is 17 percent and this itself shows a high degree of recognition of product quality of China by other countries," Bo said. Nevertheless, if even only 0.1 percent of Chinese products are problematic, his government will seriously address the matter, he added.

China is ASEAN's fourth major trading partner after the U.S., the European Union and Japan. Chinese foreign direct investment in ASEAN nations reached $936.9 million in 2006.

ASEAN and China signed a trade in goods agreement in 2004 and a trade in services deal in January 2007. An investment agreement is still under negotiation as part of steps to realize the ASEAN China Free Trade Area.

As the two sides begin to fully implement the free-trade agreements, they would like to establish common standards and technical requirements for the equal treatment of products, ASEAN Secretary General Ong Keng Yong said.

The common standards are needed to enhance bilateral trade and to ensure access for each other's products in the Chinese and ASEAN markets, the ministers' statement said.

Chinese goods have come under intense scrutiny in recent months after toxic chemicals were found in exports ranging from toothpaste to seafood and pet food ingredients.

With growing numbers of countries rejecting Chinese goods, Beijing has sought to reassure consumers by highlighting similar problems in other countries and criticizing foreign media for playing up the safety problems.

Gay overhauls Powell for 100 world title 5 minutes ago

Gay overhauls Powell for 100 world title 5 minutes ago



OSAKA, Japan - Tyson Gay is the world champion. In a 100-meters final that delivered all it promised Sunday, Gay was slower out of the blocks. Once his legs got pumping, he caught and surged past Asafa Powell to claim his first gold medal at a major international championship in 9.85 seconds.

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Powell, sensing defeat, was passed by Derrick Atkins of the Bahamas at the tape in 9.91. Powell, a co-holder of the world record at 9.77, was third in 9.96 and remains without a major title.

Watched under a full moon by Japanese Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko and some 40,000 fans at the Nagai stadium, Gay pumped his arms, beat his chest and shouted in delight in the victory that ended weeks of nervous preparations.

Powell showed little emotion — his sullen demeanor said it all.

Gay, regularly slower out of the blocks than Powell, had feared a false start, which would put him even more on edge. But the race went off smoothly. And with his head wobbling from side to side, Gay hit his groove.

With his first global title, Gay's surely the favorite for next year's Olympics in Beijing.

Although the 100 was tough to predict, nothing was easier than picking Carolina Kluft for an unprecedented third straight heptathlon title. And the 24-year-old Swede did it with a European record, becoming the second best heptathlete of all time after American Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

Kluft easily stretched her five-year unbeaten streak, earning 7,032 points to eclipse Russian Nikitina Larisa's 18-year-old European record by 25 points.

Immediately after setting the record, Kluft led all her competitors hand in hand around the stadium, the gesture as much the essence of Kluft as the outstanding performances.

In a tense shot put final, New Zealander Valerie Vili overtook defending champion Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus with her last attempt of 20.54 meters. Ostapchuk, who held the lead from the opening throw, had one attempt to go but was stranded just 6 centimeters short. Olympic silver medalist Nadine Kleinert of Germany took bronze with 19.77.

Misery came just as late to Bershawn Jackson, the defending champion in the 400 hurdles. The American was leading in his semifinal but stumbled on the last obstacle, totally lost his momentum and let two rivals pass. That result pushed him out of Tuesday's final. Olympic champion Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic led the way.

In the women's 100 second-round heats, Veronica Campbell of Jamaica cruised into the semifinals with a time of 11.08, hardly breaking a sweat in temperatures that soared into the high 80s late Sunday.

Her main rival, U.S. champion Torri Edwards, won her heat in 11.13, easing up at the finish. "I feel confident I can take this thing, the track is fast," she said. "It's hot, but sprinters like the hot weather."

Defending champion Lauryn Williams was second in her heat, advancing in 11.16.

Perez became the first man to win three successive 20-kilometer walk titles, enough to make him a star in his native Ecuador. Together with the 1996 Olympic title, the 33-year old became a quadruple gold medalist at major competitions.

"I knew I could be the first with three consecutive golds but shortly after the start I forgot about this — I needed to concentrate," he said. "One more medal is not that important."

Spain's Francisco Javier Fernandez was reinstated to silver in the walk after being disqualified for lifting over the final stretch to catch Tunisia's Hatem Ghoula.

In a sport notorious for its technical infractions, Fernandez had both feet off the ground as he raced past Ghoula. The jury of appeal ruled it was insufficient to merit a disqualification. Both racers were given the same time of 1 hour 22.40 minutes, 20 seconds.

The appeal cost Mexico's Eder Sanchez the bronze.

Currency change aimed at adding security By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer

Currency change aimed at adding security By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer
8 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - After six decades in which the venerable greenback never changed its look, the U.S. currency has undergone a slew of makeovers. The most amazing is yet to come.

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A new security thread has been approved for the $100 bill, The Associated Press has learned, and the change will cause double-takes.

The new look is part of an effort to thwart counterfeiters who are armed with ever-more sophisticated computers, scanners and color copiers. The C-note, with features the likeness of Benjamin Franklin, is the most frequent target of counterfeiters operating outside the United States.

The operation of the new security thread looks like something straight out of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This magic, however, relies on innovations produced from decades of development.

It combines micro-printing with tiny lenses — 650,000 for a single $100 bill. The lenses magnify the micro-printing in a truly remarkable way.

Move the bill side to side and the image appears to move up and down. Move the bill up and down and the image appears to move from side to side.

"It is a really complex optical structure on a microscopic scale. It makes for a very compelling high security device," said Douglas Crane, a vice president at Crane & Co. The Dalton, Mass-based company has a $46 million contract to produce the new security threads.

The redesign of the $100 is about one-third of the way complete. The bill is expected to go into circulation late next year.

___

On the Net:

Bureau of Engraving and Printing: http://www.moneyfactory.gov

A history of U.S. currency from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco: http://www.frbsf.org/currency/index.html

Bird flu found at German poultry farm 2 hours, 42 minutes ago

Bird flu found at German poultry farm 2 hours, 42 minutes ago



BERLIN - Tests have found that birds at a poultry farm in southern Germany died of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, and some 160,000 birds were being slaughtered as a precaution, authorities said.

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The virus was detected in ducklings at the farm near Erlangen, in northern Bavaria. A federal lab confirmed that the birds died of the "highly pathogenic" H5N1 variant, the state consumer protection ministry said Saturday.

More than 400 birds had died over a short period of time at the farm, ministry spokeswoman Sandra Brandt said. Authorities planned to start Saturday evening with the slaughter of the 160,000 birds at the farm.

Several cases of the virus have surfaced among wild birds in Germany this year. Last month, it was detected in a domestic goose in the east of the country.

The H5N1 virus has killed more than 190 people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

It remains hard for humans to catch, but experts fear it could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people, potentially sparking a global pandemic. So far, most human cases have been traced to contact with infected birds.

Thousands ordered to flee Idaho wildfire By KEITH RIDLER, Associated Press Writer

Thousands ordered to flee Idaho wildfire By KEITH RIDLER, Associated Press Writer
Sun Aug 26, 5:50 AM ET



BOISE, Idaho - A mandatory evacuation was ordered Saturday for residents of more than 1,000 homes south of Ketchum, where a massive wildfire raged and high winds grounded firefighting air tankers.

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After three days of relative calm, the 39-square-mile fire was 38 percent contained, but embers blew ahead of the blaze and increased the threat of spot fires, fire spokesman Bob Beanblossom said.

"At this point in the mandatory evacuation, we're giving people the opportunity to get out during the daylight and to keep the highways clear for emergency response vehicles," said Kim Rogers, public information officer with the city of Ketchum.

Another 100 homes remained under a mandatory evacuation order from last weekend, including some worth millions of dollars in the resort area of central Idaho. A shelter was set up at a former high school in the town of Hailey, said Dick Rush, CEO of the American Red Cross for Idaho.

No structures had been reported lost to the lightning-sparked blaze, although winds were gusting to 25 mph, Beanblossom said.

In California, a seven-week-old wildfire in the Santa Barbara County wilderness showed bursts of life Saturday despite firefighters' significant progress.

The blaze was 83 percent contained Saturday evening after burning 239,468 acres, or about 374 square miles, of steep backcountry.

A recommended evacuation was in effect for about nine square miles west of Highway 33, according to an update by fire officials issued Saturday.

The fire was about 15 miles away from the community of Ojai and did not threaten any other large communities, officials said. Despite its size, the fire has only destroyed one structure, an outbuilding.

Hole apparently finds no sign of miners By CHELSEA J. CARTER and JENNIFER DOBNER, Associated Press Writers

Hole apparently finds no sign of miners By CHELSEA J. CARTER and JENNIFER DOBNER, Associated Press Writers
2 hours, 32 minutes ago



HUNTINGTON, Utah - What next? That was the question remaining after a drill punched a sixth hole through a mine shaft and found no sign of six miners last seen before a massive collapse nearly three weeks ago.

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Federal safety officials told families of the missing miners they would conduct testing — air samples, signaling in hopes of a response from the men, and dropping a video camera into the mine shaft — but have been less than hopeful about the results, which were expected to be announced Sunday.

"The only thing they told us is there is no void where the sixth hole is; there is no space," attorney Colin King said after a meeting between the missing miners' families he represents and mine officials.

Crandall Canyon Mine co-owner Bob Murray has said this hole, the sixth to be drilled deep into the mountain, will be the last effort to find a sign of the miners, who may not have survived the massive cave-in Aug. 6.

Families have pleaded with Murray not to halt rescue efforts, and King said officials did not rule out the possibility of a seventh bore hole.

"They left the possibility open that they were possibly considering another hole," King said. "It didn't sound like that was uppermost on their list of to-dos."

Drilling on the sixth narrow inch hole was completed late Saturday afternoon, the U.S. Department of Labor said, reaching a depth of more than 1,700 feet.

Rob Moore, vice president of Murray Energy Corp., co-owner of the Crandall Canyon mine, said he had no comment on the initial findings from the sixth hole.

Previous holes have yielded only grainy video images and poor air samples. Efforts to signal the miners have been met with silence. Tunneling into the mine was abandoned after another collapse killed three rescue workers and injured six others on Aug. 16.

"It is one of my major goals and the families' major goal to get them out. ... We will vigorously resist any attempt to seal this mine so that we can keep those options open," said King, who has been retained by most of the miners' families.

Family and friends of the missing miners have pressed for the efforts to continue, if only to find the bodies of Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Luis Hernandez, Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips and Manuel Sanchez.

"At this point, we're very disappointed at the Murray Energy group of companies, which seem to have given up on these people in the mine. They've been unresponsive to our efforts to learn why a large diameter drill hole from above could not have been done and has not been done," King said.

Federal officials and mine company executives have said the mountain's instability makes it too dangerous to drill a hole wide enough for a one-person rescue capsule unless there are signs of life.

"The reality is getting worse and worse," King said. "There is nothing on the drawing board as far as we know that would have any way to get to (the miners) in any short time."

A report from eight national mine safety experts detailing the rationale against a rescue capsule hole or continued horizontal drilling has not been provided to families, King said.

"It puts us in a very difficult position to be able to credibly say, 'You should do this' or 'You should have done that,'" King said.

Seismologists say the mountain is crumbling upon itself, bursting support pillars as it shifts, creating phenomena known as mountain bumps.

The thunderous collapse blew out the walls of the mine shafts, filling them with rubble more than 8 to 10 feet deep in some places. If the men were not crushed by rock, they could have been killed by the immense air pressure generated by the collapse, mining executives and federal regulators have said.

Twin bombings kill 42 in southern India By OMER FAROOQ, Associated Press Writer

Twin bombings kill 42 in southern India By OMER FAROOQ, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 34 minutes ago



HYDERABAD, India - A pair of almost simultaneous bombings blamed on Islamic extremists tore through a popular family restaurant and an outdoor arena on Saturday night, killing at least 42 people in this southern Indian city plagued by Hindu-Muslim tensions.

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The restaurant was destroyed by the bomb placed at the entrance. Blood-covered tin plates and broken glasses littered the road outside.

The other blast struck a laser show at an auditorium in Lumbini park, leaving pools of blood and dead bodies between rows of seats punctured by shrapnel. Some seats were hurled 100 feet away.

Officials said Sunday that foreign-based Islamic extremists may have been behind the attacks.

"Available information points to the involvement of terrorist organizations based in Bangladesh and Pakistan," Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh state, where Hyderabad is located, told reporters after an emergency state Cabinet meeting.

Reddy did not name any groups, but Indian media reports, quoting unnamed security officials, identified the Bangladesh-based Harkatul Jihad Al-Islami. Reddy declined to provide more details. "It is not possible to divulge all this information," he said.

Harkatul, which is banned in Bangladesh, wants to establish strict Islamic rule in Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation governed by secular laws.

The Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry said Dhaka had not been informed of these allegations.

Witnesses described chaotic scenes in the aftermath of the bombings.

"We heard the blast and people started running out past us. Many of them had blood streaming off them," said P.K. Verghese, the security manager at the laser show. "It was complete chaos. We had to remove the security barriers so people could get out."

Most of the dead were killed in the Gokul Chat restaurant at Hyderabad's Kothi market, said K. Jana Reddy, the state home minister. By Sunday morning, the death toll had risen to 42 as victims succumbed to injuries. Some 50 people were injured in the two blasts.

Hindu-Muslim animosity runs deep in Hyderabad, where a bombing at a historic mosque killed 11 people in May. Another five people died in subsequent clashes between security forces and Muslim protesters angered by what they said was a lack of police protection.

Two other bombs were defused in the city Saturday, one under a footbridge in the busy Bilsukh Nagar commercial area, and another in a movie theater in the Narayanguba neighborhood, a police official said. Late-night movie showings were canceled across the city.

"This is a terrorist act," said Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the chief minister for Andhra Pradesh state, where Hyderabad is located.

Much of India's Hindu-Muslim animosity is rooted in disputes over the Himalayan territory of Kashmir, divided between India and mostly Muslim Pakistan but claimed in its entirety by both countries. More than a dozen Islamic insurgent groups are fighting for Kashmir's independence or its merger with Pakistan.

More than 80 percent of India's 1.1 billion people are Hindu and 13 percent are Muslim. But in Hyderabad, Muslims make up 40 percent of the population of 7 million.

There has been little progress in the investigation into the May mosque bombing. Underlying the divide, Muslim leaders have said they do not trust local police to handle the investigation into the attack.

A series of terrorist bombings have ripped across India in the past two years. In July 2006, bombs in seven Mumbai commuter trains killed more than 200 people, attacks blamed on Pakistan-based Muslim militants.

Iraqi leader lashes back at U.S. critics By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer

Iraqi leader lashes back at U.S. critics By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer
41 minutes ago



BAGHDAD - Iraq's beleaguered prime minister on Sunday lashed out at American critics who have called for his ouster, saying Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Carl Levin need to "come to their senses."

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Nouri al-Maliki, who is fighting to hold his government together, issued a series of stinging ripostes against a variety of foreign officials who recently have spoken negatively about his leadership. But those directed at Democrats Clinton, of New York, and Levin, of Michigan, were the most strident.

"There are American officials who consider Iraq as if it were one of their villages, for example Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin. They should come to their senses," al-Maliki said at a news conference.

Al-Maliki launched the verbal counteroffensive in the final days before the American commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker are due in Washington to report to Congress on progress in Iraq since the introduction of 30,000 more America troops.

The Shiite prime minister said a negative report by Petraeus would not cause him to change course, although he said he expected that the U.S. general would "be supportive of the government and will disappoint the politicians who are relying on it" to be negative.

Al-Maliki appeared stung by the recent series of critical statements about his government, including one from President Bush, who said he was frustrated that al-Maliki had failed to make progress on political benchmarks. Crocker has said the lack of movement had been "highly disappointing."

And most recently Sen. John Warner, R-Va.,said the United States should order a token withdrawal of forces by Christmas. The former chairman of the Armed Services Committee said such a move would show al-Maliki that Washington was serious about progress on reconciliation among the country's religious sects and ethnic groups.

Warner and Levin traveled to Iraq together earlier this month as part of the multitude of Congressional delegations who are visiting the country before the expected heated debate on Capitol Hill about U.S. troop levels and plans for a withdrawal.

Al-Maliki also criticized some U.S. military actions.

"Concerning American raids on Shula (a northern Shiite neighborhood) and Sadr City (the Shiite slum enclave in east Baghdad). There were big mistakes committed in these operations. The terrorist himself should be targeted not his family.

"When they want to detain one person, they should not kill 10 others. These are mistakes which we have to deal with. We will not allow the detaining of innocent people. Only the criminals should be detained," the angry al-Maliki declared.

Two nights ago the U.S. military raided the Shula neighborhood and said it killed eight "terrorists" who had attacked an American patrol from rooftops. Some Iraqis reported many civilians were killed and wounded.

U.S. forces also are routinely raiding Sadr City, often calling in helicopter fire. The U.S. says it targets only Shiite militia fighters. Iraqi officials regularly report civilians killed in the raids.

Meanwhile, waves of Shiite pilgrims descended on Karbala on Sunday for a festival marking the birth of the 9th century Hidden Imam. A woman making the 50-mile trek from Baghdad was shot to death by men in a passing car in the southwest of the capital.

More than a million Shiite faithful from throughout the world were expected to converge on the Shiite holy city for the celebrations, which reach their high point late Tuesday and early Wednesday. The Shabaniyah festival marks the birth of Mohammed al-Mahdi, the 12th and last Shiite imam who disappeared in the 9th century.

Religious Shiites refer to al-Mahdi as the "Hidden Imam," believing he was spared death and will return to Earth to bring peace and justice.

Six men were wounded as they walked toward Karbala with the woman who was gunned down, according to Baghdad police officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

In the past, Sunni religious extremists, including al-Qaida in Iraq, have launched massive and deadly attacks against pilgrims during Shiite celebrations, which have drawn huge crowds since the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime.

Last March, about 340 people were killed in a weeklong wave of bombings and shootings. Most of the dead were Shiite pilgrims en route to religious ceremonies in Karbala.

To prevent a repeat, Iraqi authorities Saturday banned motorcycles, bicycles and horse-drawn wagons from the streets of Baghdad indefinitely. Earlier in the day, state television announced that the ban applied to all vehicles, including cars and trucks.

Later, the chief military spokesman for Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Mousawi, said cars and trucks would be allowed but other forms of transport that could slip into smaller places were banned until further notice.

All vehicles were banned from the Karbala city center and each pilgrim entering the district was subjected to a security pat-down by the thousands of police on duty.

"I was hesitant to come because I feared a terrorist attack, but when I saw these strict security I felt safe," said Haji Sabeeh Raheem, a 61-year-old pilgrim from Najaf, another Shiite holy city to the south.

Greek fires race toward ancient sites By JOHN F.L. ROSS, Associated Press Writers

Greek fires race toward ancient sites By JOHN F.L. ROSS, Associated Press Writers
21 minutes ago



AMALIADA, Greece - The fires consuming southern Greece raced toward Ancient Olympia and the nearby Temple of Apollo on Sunday, engulfing entire villages and the parched forests blocking their path toward some of the most revered sites of antiquity.

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At least 51 people were confirmed dead, including a woman found with her arms around the bodies of her four children, and more were feared lost in the country's worst wildfires in decades.

Church bells rang out in the village of Kolyri, near Ancient Olympia, as residents gathered their belongings and fled through the night. Villagers returned to find at least seven gutted houses.

"It's hell everywhere," said Costas Ladas, who said the fire covered more than a mile in three minutes. "I've never seen anything like it."

Fotis Hadzopoulos, another resident, said the evacuation was chaotic. "Children were crying, and their mothers were trying to comfort them, " he said.

The worst fires — 42 major fronts — were concentrated in the mountains of the Peloponnese in southern Greece and on the island of Evia north of Athens. Arson has been blamed in several cases, and seven people have been detained.

The flames surrounded and isolated villages, prompting inhabitants to plead for help on television and radio as the fires neared towns near Ancient Olympia in the south.

"We're going to burn alive here," one woman told Greek television from the village of Lambeti. She said residents were using garden hoses in an attempt to save their homes.

Efforts to contain the inferno were initially helped by a drop in the gale-force winds that swept fires through thousands of acres of forest and scrub since Friday, the fire department said. But the winds revived early in the afternoon

"Fires are burning in more than half the country," department spokesman Nikos Diamandis said. "This is definitely an unprecedented disaster for Greece."

The government, which has come under harsh criticism for its response to the fires, on Sunday decided to give up to $13,000 in aid to people who lost relatives or property.

"All these areas have suffered an economic and social catastrophe," Economy Minister George Alogoskoufis said. "We can all sense the grief and pain of afflicted people."

Firefighters began to reach burned-out villages and there were fears the death toll would rise. Diamandis said it was impossible as yet to estimate how large an area had been burned and how many homes had been destroyed.

Winds abruptly intensified early Sunday afternoon, whipping flames in the direction of Ancient Olympia — where the Olympic Games were held in antiquity.

The fire blazed into the nearby village of Varvasaina, destroying several houses. As residents rushed to battle the flames, others, stunned, walked the streets holding their heads in their hands. One man dashed out of his house clutching a shotgun.

Dozens of charred bodies were found across fields, homes, along roads and in cars. The fire department confirmed 51 deaths, and there were fears the toll could increase as rescuers searched burned areas.

Flames were also approaching the ancient temple of Apollo Epikourios, near the picturesque town of Andritsaina in the southwestern Peloponnese.

Andritsaina Mayor Tryphon Athanassopoulos said the fire was less than two miles from the 2,500-year-old monument — and less than a mile from his town.

"We are trying to save the Temple of Apollo, as well as Andritsaina itself," he told state NET television.

Much of the Peloponnese was ablaze, and churches across the country were filled with people praying for the fires to relent.

Nearly 1,000 soldiers and military helicopters reinforced firefighters stretched to the limit by Greece's worst summer of wildfires. In the most ravaged area — a string of mountain villages in southern Greece — rescue crews picked through a grim aftermath that spoke of last-minute desperation as the fires closed in.

By sea and by land, authorities evacuated hundreds of people trapped by the flames.

At least 12 countries were sending reinforcements for Greece's overstretched firefighters, and six water-dropping planes from France and Italy were due to start operations later Sunday.

"So many fires breaking out simultaneously in so many parts of the country cannot be a coincidence," Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said in a nationally televised address. "The state will do everything it can to find those responsible and punish them."

___

Associated Press writers Elena Becatoros and Nicholas Paphitis in Athens contributed to this report.