Stocks fall as credit concerns persist By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer

Stocks fall as credit concerns persist By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer
27 minutes ago



NEW YORK - Wall Street skidded further Friday as investors again succumbed to anxiety over tight credit conditions even after the Federal Reserve said it would do all it can to "facilitate the orderly functioning of financial markets." The Dow Jones industrials came off of their lows after the Fed added a second dose of liquidity to the markets.

ADVERTISEMENT

The market, which has been gyrating for weeks over fears that credit is drying up, began to pare its losses after the Fed's latest injection of cash into the banking system Friday. The day's declines, however, showed the depths of fear that have investors yanking money out of stocks.

The Fed added another $16 billion in liquidity to the market at midmorning Friday, supplementing the $19 billion added earlier in the day.

Federal Reserve policy makers "are trying to do everything they can short of cutting the federal funds rate" to try to calm the markets, said Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research in Great Neck, N.Y.

But, he said, "I think they probably have to cut rates, and probably before their scheduled September meeting."

He noted that it was Fed rate cuts that calmed the market after the 1998 Russian debt crisis and the implosion of the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management.

In late morning trading, the Dow Jones industrials dropped 122.34, or 0.92 percent, to 13,148.34, adding to a 387-point plunge on Thursday and extending a series of triple-digit moves that began in late July. The Dow earlier fell more than 200 points.

Friday's pullback followed the zigzag trading and triple-digit moves in the Dow since the index closed at a record 14,000.41 on July 19. As of Thursday's close, the Dow was down about 730 points, or 5.2 percent, from its record close.

Broader stock indicators also declined Friday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 9.54, or 0.66 percent, to 1,443.55, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 26.19, or 1.02 percent, to 2,530.30.

On Friday, the New York Fed, which carries out the central bank's market operation, announced a three-day repurchase agreement and then a second "repo" to inject liquidity into the market. The Fed said Friday it would accept $19 billion and then $16 billion in mortgage backed securities. The move came after the fed funds rate, the rate banks charge each other for overnight loans, ticked above 6 percent again Friday — well above the Fed's target of 5.25 percent and a sign that credit was becoming harder to obtain.

The Fed stepped in after the same occurrence Thursday, injecting a larger-than-normal $24 billion in temporary reserves to the U.S. banking system. In a repo, the Fed arranges to buy securities from dealers, who then deposit the money the Fed has paid them into commercial banks.

"I think they're trying to bolster the market's confidence without resorting in the first instance to rate cuts," said Alan Levenson, chief economist at T. Rowe Price.

Confidence has been shaken worldwide. In Asia, which had largely missed the worldwide pullback Thursday, stocks skidded after regulators including the Bank of Japan added liquidity. The European Central Bank for the second day added cash to its money markets.

These banks and others around the world haven't worked together to inject liquidity into the markets since the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. But the measures, intended to keep financial markets well-oiled, also seemed to confirm investor fears of a larger problem in the credit markets that will stall corporate growth — including the burst of takeover activity that powered stocks higher this year.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 2.4 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 2.9 percent.

In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 3.04 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 1.43 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 2.91 percent.

Bonds rose again Friday as investors again sought the relative safety of Treasurys. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.74 percent from 4.79 percent late Thursday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

The concerns about credit and the effect of subprime loans, those made to borrowers with weak credit, were undiminished Friday, perhaps in part because of comments from Countrywide Financial Corp.

The nation's biggest mortgage lender fell $2.02, or 7.1 percent, to $26.64 after saying in a regulatory filing Thursday that disruptions in credit and secondary mortgage markets pose a risk to the company and could hurt its financial standing in the short-term. Earlier in the week, Countrywide said it still has access to capital despite the credit crunch.

Credit concerns unnerved investors not only for the deals that such difficulties could prevent but also for deals in the works that could be derailed.

ABN Amro Holding NV had been down sharply early and was recently off $1.17, or 2.5 percent, to $45.95 amid worries that one or both of two competing bids for the company might fall apart. ABN fell as investors appeared to re-evaluate risk that a bid from Fortis NV, part of a consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland PLC, could lose out to a bid from Barclays PLC, or that both could fail. However, Fortis' chief executive said he was "very confident" about financing the ABN deal, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said U.S. import prices rose for a fifth consecutive month in July, increasing 1.5 percent. Prices rose in part amid increased energy costs. The figures could stir concern among the Fed about inflationary prices. The central bank said after its August meeting this month that its primary concern remains inflation.

Light, sweet crude fell 81 cents to $70.78 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 3 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 810.8 million shares.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 8.96, or 1.14 percent, to 775.91.

___

On the Net:

New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com

Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

DVD formats square off for holidays By GARY GENTILE, AP Business Writer

DVD formats square off for holidays By GARY GENTILE, AP Business Writer
25 minutes ago



LOS ANGELES - People who own an HD DVD player can forget about watching "Spider-Man 3" in high definition when it goes on sale during the holiday season. The movie from Sony Pictures will only be available in the Blu-ray DVD format.

ADVERTISEMENT

Likewise, people with Blu-ray players won't be able to enjoy the action-thriller "The Bourne Ultimatum," which Universal Pictures will release only in HD DVD.

These exclusive arrangements, plus aggressive price cuts for high-def DVD players, are designed to persuade consumers to finally embrace one format or the other.

But analysts wonder if the moves will anger consumers, just as the studios and consumer-electronics companies are hoping to boost high-def DVD sales as growth in standard DVDs stalls.

"The frustration for consumers is not knowing what format is going to win," said Chris Roden, an analyst at Parks Associates.

Consumers, many of whom are still smarting from the VCR format battle between VHS and Betamax, need to know their expensive equipment won't become obsolete if the competing format wins, said Steven J. Caldero, chief operating officer of Ken Crane's, specialty electronics chain in Southern California.

"People are still frustrated there is a format war to begin with," he said. "The studios are making people choose. What consumers want is something that will play everything so they don't have to choose."

Until recently, many consumers were able to defer the choice because players have been so expensive. But prices have been slashed by about half — Sony Corp.'s Blu-ray player now sells for $499 and Toshiba Corp.'s cheapest HD DVD player sells for $299, with both likely to include as many as five free movies as an incentive. (Players that read both formats remain expensive.)

Both sides are also releasing blockbuster titles such as the new "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie aimed squarely at the demographic most likely to upgrade to high-def.

The stakes couldn't be higher for Hollywood, which has seen sales of traditional DVDs, once a reliable profit engine, slow to a trickle. Direct digital delivery online, while promising, is still years away from profitability because current Internet capacity simply can't handle the enormous high-definition files.

Yet consumers remain profoundly confused by the two formats, both of which deliver crisp, clear pictures and sound but are completely incompatible with each other and do not play on older DVD players. Many haven't even heard of either format.

HD DVD, developed by Toshiba and backed by powerful companies like Microsoft, has the lead in standalone players sold because they are cheaper and hit the market first.

In the United States, standalone HD DVD players have 61 percent market share, while Blu-ray players have 36 percent share and the few dual-format players have a 3 percent share, according to market research company The NPD Group Inc.

But Blu-ray, backed by Sony and a majority of Hollywood studios, got a big boost when Sony introduced its PlayStation 3 game console, which comes standard with a Blu-ray drive. Counting those machines, there are more Blu-ray players out there.

Although Microsoft's Xbox 360 can play HD DVD movies, the drive has to be bought separately. Only 160,000 drives have been sold so far, compared with 1.5 million PS3 consoles, according to NPD.

In terms of discs sold, Blu-ray has always had the lead. Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. and Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures release movies in both formats, and in such cases Blu-ray has outsold HD DVD by nearly 2-to-1.

Blu-Ray is getting an even bigger boost as Blockbuster Inc. announced it would stock only Blu-ray titles when it expands its high-def DVD offerings this year. Target Inc., the nation's second-largest retailer, said it will only sell Blu-ray DVD players in its stores in the fourth quarter.

Sony Pictures, News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox, The Walt Disney Co., and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer are releasing only in Blu-ray. Universal, owned by General Electric Co., is the only major studio to back HD DVD exclusively.

Nonetheless, Warner Bros. believes both formats can coexist and has been urging Blu-ray backers to begin supporting HD DVD as well. The studio has developed a dual-format disc and has said it would license the technology to other studios willing to back both.

"The fourth quarter is critical for the formats to show growth and momentum," said Steve Nickerson, Warner Home Video's senior vice president of marketing. "It's more than about winning or losing. If you can continue to show growth (in both formats), that's a positive in a situation where standard DVD sales aren't growing."

To counter Blu-ray's recent gains, the HD DVD camp is planning an advertising campaign touting the interactive elements of the format, which allow users to connect to the Internet to download special features.

"This is not about a high-def movie on a disc," said Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment. "It's about a fully immersive experience, connected interactivity. That's what is going to separate these high-def formats."

Kornblau said he isn't worried about Blu-ray's momentum and doesn't believe there's a need for one to knockout the other.

"To call this market nascent is to a degree to pay it a complement," he said. "The people who have bought so far aren't early adopters, they are early, early adopters."

Analysts said even lower prices for players could be the key to determining a format winner. Some believe that until prices hit the $200 range, consumers simply won't upgrade from their current machines, many of which cost less than $100.

Chinese-made HD DVD players selling for $199 are expected to hit store shelves by December, while Sony is widely expected to cut the cost of its Blu-ray machine to as low as $299 by year's end.

"When that occurs, the studios and Sony are going to pull out the big guns," said Phillip Swann, president of the technology-oriented Web site TVpredictions.com. "They are going to release more titles, big titles, and really go for the kill this holiday season."

___

On the Net:

HD DVD camp: http://www.thelookandsoundofperfect.com

Blu-ray camp: http://www.blu-raydisc.com

Pavarotti's wife says tenor is improving 2 hours, 42 minutes ago

Pavarotti's wife says tenor is improving 2 hours, 42 minutes ago



ROME - Luciano Pavarotti was doing better Friday after he was admitted to a hospital in northern Italy with a fever and was expected to be released "in the coming days," his wife said.

The tenor, who underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer last year, has been hospitalized in his hometown of Modena since Wednesday. The 71-year-old was being kept under observation and his condition was described in a medical bulletin Thursday as "satisfactory."

"He is doing better," Pavarotti's wife, Nicoletta Mantovani, told reporters at the hospital, according to the ANSA news agency. "He has had an uneventful night."

"He is serene, he talks and jokes," Mantovani said of her husband.

She confirmed that the tenor was expected to be released "in the coming days, certainly," and added: "The doctors are very positive."

The hospital said it did not expect to issue any updates on Pavarotti's condition Friday.

Newspapers have reported that Pavarotti had pneumonia, but the tenor's manager, Terri Robson, declined to comment on the report in a phone call and a subsequent e-mail exchange with The Associated Press.

Robson said that Pavarotti came down with a fever while vacationing at his holiday home in Pesaro, a seaside resort on the Adriatic some 125 miles southeast of Modena, and his doctor decided to admit him to the hospital for tests.

Pavarotti underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer in July 2006 in a New York hospital. Pancreatic cancer is one of the most dangerous forms of the disease, though doctors said the surgery offered improved hopes for survival.

At the time of the operation, Pavarotti was preparing to resume his farewell tour. He has made no public appearances since then. Robson has said he has been busy teaching and working on a recording of sacred music

Spice Girl Emma Bunton has baby boy 35 minutes ago

Spice Girl Emma Bunton has baby boy 35 minutes ago



LONDON - It's a baby boy for "Baby Spice" Emma Bunton.

ADVERTISEMENT


The 31-year-old Spice Girls singer gave birth to a son, Beau, at London's Portland Hospital on Friday, a spokesman said.

He is the first child for Bunton and boyfriend Jade Jones.

The Spice Girls — Bunton, Victoria Beckham, Melanie Chisholm, Geri Halliwell and Melanie Brown — had a string of global hits before splitting in 2001. In June they announced they were reuniting for a tour that will begin later this year.

___

On the Net:

Spice Girls:

http://www.thespicegirls.com/

Fire damages Rome's famed film studios 1 hour, 31 minutes ago

Fire damages Rome's famed film studios 1 hour, 31 minutes ago



ROME - A fire on the set of the completed HBO series "Rome" has destroyed part of the famed Cinecitta film studios. No one was reported injured.

ADVERTISEMENT

The blaze, which started late Thursday, burned through about 32,000 square feet, firefighters said. The sprawling complex on the outskirts of Rome covers more than 717,000 square yards, including buildings, gardens, movie sets and offices.

Officials said the site where the fire broke out contained a large amount of highly flammable, synthetic material. The cause of the fire wasn't clear, but officials ruled out arson.

It took dozens of firefighters about three hours to put out the blaze, which sent columns of thick smoke high into the sky.

The fire didn't affect the historic part of the 70-year-old studio that houses the sets of classics such as "Ben-Hur," Francesco Carducci Artenisio, head of the studios' holding company, told the ANSA news agency.

Cinecitta, on the southern outskirts of Rome, was built by Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in 1937. Over the decades, it has been used for about 1,000 productions by directors such as Federico Fellini and Vittorio De Sica.

Hollywood directors came to Cinecitta in the 1950s for movies including "Ben-Hur" and "Quo Vadis." More recently, Martin Scorsese used the studios to shoot "Gangs of New York," starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis.

___

HBO is a unit of Time Warner Inc.

___

On the Net:

http://www.hbo.com/

Kenya court clears 4 in filmmaker death By ANTONY GITONGA, Associated Press Writer

Kenya court clears 4 in filmmaker death By ANTONY GITONGA, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 11 minutes ago



NAIVASHA, Kenya - A Kenyan judge acquitted four men accused of killing a British wildlife filmmaker and naturalist in her home, ruling Friday that the investigation was "poorly done."

ADVERTISEMENT


Joan Root, 69, was shot in her bed in January 2006 by two intruders who broke her bedroom window and fired an AK-47 assault rifle at close range, police said. They said she tried unsuccessfully to stop her bleeding with bed sheets before she died. The motive apparently was robbery.

Magistrate Nicholas Njagi, who presided over the bench trial, ordered the men released after more than a year in custody and denounced the investigation. They had faced charges including robbery with violence that leads to a death.

"I acquit the accused," Njagi said. He said the investigation was "poorly done."

Root collaborated with her former husband, Alan Root, in making several popular films about African wildlife, including "Balloon Safari" and "Two in the Bush."

Root's family could not immediately be reached for comment on the court's action Friday.

The defendants — David Chege, Joseph Ndung'u, Philip Mutuku and Allan Githenji — hugged their relatives outside court.

"We have suffered in remand for a sin committed by others," Chege said.

ECB, Fed inject cash to ease fears By MATT MOORE, AP Business Writer

ECB, Fed inject cash to ease fears By MATT MOORE, AP Business Writer
2 minutes ago



FRANKFURT, Germany - Central banks around the world injected more cash into the international banking system Friday as problems that began with U.S. subprime mortgages rattle the global economy.

ADVERTISEMENT

The ECB injected a further 61 billion euros ($83.8 billion) Friday morning, while the U.S. Federal Reserve later announced a three-day repurchase agreement to inject liquidity into the market.

The Fed said it would accept $19 billion in mortgage-backed securities after its Fed Funds rate, the rate that banks charge each other for overnight loans, ticked above 6 percent — well above the Fed's target of 5.25 percent.

Later, the U.S. central bank said it would pump as much money as needed into the U.S. financial system to help overcome the effects of a spreading credit crunch.

The moves did little to mollify world markets, with major indexes falling from Tokyo to London.

The ECB had already provided 95 billion euros ($130.7 billion) in funds to banks on Thursday, while the Fed added $24 billion and Japan's central bank injected 1 trillion yen ($8.4 billion) into money markets.

It was the first time the U.S., European and Japanese central banks had taken such action together since the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Australian, Hong Kong and Canadian central banks also joined in.

The ECB said Friday its move "aims to assure orderly conditions in the euro money market" and it pledged to keep close tabs on the situation.

But edginess in global markets — and concern about non-U.S. companies' exposure — was reflected in sharp declines in stock indices around the world on Friday. London's FTSE 100 dropped 3.2 percent, the CAC-40 in Paris fell 3.3 percent and Germany's DAX index was down 1.5 percent.

"Market concerns about the U.S. subprime crisis are continuing without any apparent respite," said Joerg Kraemer, chief economist at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt.

Some analysts argued that the ECB — which sets monetary policy for Germany, France and 11 other EU nations — was taking a risk with the infusion as it could itself create a crisis in confidence.

"The ECB was correct to shore up banks' balance sheets, but its high-profile announcement likely did more to scare markets than calm them," said Peter Morici, an economics professor at the University of Maryland.

"Banks are calling in notes from hedge funds and denying private equity funds new loans for questionable investments," Morici said. "It's a modern-day run on the bank."

Defaults on subprime loans — those made to people with poor credit — have climbed sharply in the United States in recent months and have triggered concern about the impact on credit markets worldwide. Until the past few weeks, most of the banks and companies affected were in the U.S.

But in Germany, insurer Allianz SE, which owns Dresdner Bank AG, revealed Friday that it has 1.7 billion euros ($2.3 billion) of exposure to the U.S. subprime market — or about 0.16 percent of its 1.03 euros trillion ($1.41 trillion) in total investments.

Deutsche Bank AG also said Friday that DWS Investments, its investment arm, would keep its asset-backed securities WDS ABS Fund open, even though it has lost 30 percent of its value, or 2.1 billion euros ($2.9 billion) since July. It said it would keep the fund open at the request of its mostly institutional investors, noting that it is not invested in U.S. subprime loans.

Earlier this week, WestLB Mellon Asset Management, the asset management joint venture of German state bank WestLB AG and The Bank of New York Mellon Corp., suspended redemptions from its asset-backed securities ABS Fund.

Other companies, including Union Investment Asset Management, a German mutual fund manager, and Frankfurt Trust, a unit of BHF-Bank, have also halted redemptions.

A pool of German banks stepped in this week to shield IKB Industriebank AG from further losses after the lender's Rhinleland Funding Capital Corp. bought 14 billion euros ($19.11 billion) in fixed-income securities — some of them backed by subprime mortgages. The bank's chief executive and chief financial officer have both resigned.

The worries came to a head Thursday after French bank BNP Paribas SA announced the suspension of three asset-backed securities funds, saying it could not value them accurately. The ECB announced its first move after that.

___

AP Economics Writer Jeannine Aversa in Washington and AP Business Writer Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo contributed to this report.

Dems take sharp questions on gay rights By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press Writer

Dems take sharp questions on gay rights By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press Writer
17 minutes ago



LOS ANGELES - Democratic presidential contenders faced pointed questions on gay marriage and the basis for sexual orientation in a forum that forced candidates to confront politically touchy issues that have vexed a nation.

ADVERTISEMENT

Former Sen. John Edwards found himself discussing whether he is comfortable around gay people — he said he is. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson appeared to struggle with a question about why people become gay or lesbian. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton ended up defending the record of her husband, former President Clinton, on gay rights.

"We certainly didn't get as much done as I would have liked," the New York senator said. "But there was a lot of honest effort."

Six of the eight Democratic candidates answered questions Thursday on gay rights at the two-hour forum co-sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign, a gay-rights group active in Democratic politics, and Logo, a gay-oriented cable TV channel that aired the forum live.

Organizers said it marked the first time that major presidential candidates appeared on TV specifically to address gay issues. The candidates appeared one at a time in an upholstered chair on a Hollywood studio set and took questions from a panel that included singer Melissa Etheridge.

The candidates underscored differences with Republicans on gay and lesbian rights, but leading candidates also faced aggressive questioning on their reluctance to embrace marriage for same-sex couples.

All of the Democratic candidates support a federal ban on anti-gay job discrimination, want to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy barring gays from serving openly in the military and support civil unions that would extend marriage-like rights to same-sex couples.

A majority of Americans oppose nationwide recognition of same-sex marriage and only two of the Democrats support it — former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, both longshots for the nomination.

Barack Obama belongs to the United Church of Christ, which supports gay marriage, but Obama has yet to go that far.

"If we have a situation in which civil unions are fully enforced, are widely recognized, people have civil rights under the law, then my sense is that's enormous progress," the Illinois senator said.

In a campaign dominated by the Iraq war and terrorism, the forum provided unusually probing talk about issues that alternately touched on questions of tolerance, morality and religion.

Clinton said she made a mistake in March when she steered around a question on whether homosexuality was immoral. She was asked about it after Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he considered homosexual acts immoral and similar to adultery. He later said he should have not expressed his personal views. Clinton later issued a statement saying she did not think being gay was immoral.

"It was a mistake," Clinton said. "I should have put it in a broader context."

Clinton was cheered by the crowd when she alluded to the prospect for change at the White House in the 2008 election. Edwards argued that Democrats must speak out against discrimination coming from the Republican right wing.

Unless you speak out against intolerance, it becomes "OK for the Republicans in their politics to divide America and use hate-mongering to separate us," Edwards said.

Etheridge, speaking to Edwards, said she had heard he once said he felt uncomfortable around gay people — an assertion contained in longtime political strategist Bob Shrum's book "No Excuses: Concessions of a Serial Campaigner."

"I'm perfectly comfortable," Edwards said. "I know where it came from. It came from a political consultant. And he's just wrong."

Richardson skirted a thorny debate on homosexuality.

When asked by Etheridge whether "homosexuality is a choice or is it biological?" he said, "I don't see this as an issue of science or definition. I see gays and lesbians as human beings."

Richardson later elaborated in a statement issued by his campaign:

"Let me be clear — I do not believe that sexual orientation or gender identity happen by choice," Richardson said. "But I'm not a scientist, and the point I was trying to make is that no matter how it happens, we are all equal and should be treated that way under the law."

When Kucinich was asked whether there was anything on the agenda for gay and lesbian rights he didn't support, he paused and said, "All I can say is, keep those contributions coming ... and you'll have the president that you want."

In a statement clearly aimed at the leading Democrats in the field, he said his support for same-sex marriage was "a question of whether you really believe in equality."

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese, who was on a panel posing questions to the candidates, said in a statement, the forum "was an important night in the fight for equality."

"Unfortunately, we have more work to do," Solmonese said. "The overwhelming majority of the candidates do not support marriage equality. While we heard very strong commitments to civil unions and equality in federal rights and benefits, their reasons for opposing equality in civil marriage tonight became even less clear."

Of the eight Democratic candidates, two did not attend, Sens. Joe Biden of Delaware and Chris Dodd of Connecticut.

Logo, available in about 27 million homes, wanted to hold a second forum for Republican candidates but GOP front-runners showed no interest, channel officials said.

Giuliani's faith both public and private By LIBBY QUAID, Associated Press Writer

Giuliani's faith both public and private By LIBBY QUAID, Associated Press Writer
30 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - Rudy Giuliani evokes his Catholic upbringing as he campaigns for president, yet he refuses to say whether he is a practicing Catholic.

ADVERTISEMENT

When a voter asked this week if he is a "traditional, practicing Roman Catholic," Giuliani insisted his faith should be private.

"My religious affiliation, my religious practices and the degree to which I am a good or not-so-good Catholic, I prefer to leave to the priests," the former New York mayor responded in Davenport, Iowa.

It would be difficult for him to answer yes. Someone who, like Giuliani, divorces and remarries without getting an annulment from the church cannot receive communion or other church sacraments.

Religion plays an influential role in presidential elections. John F. Kennedy's Roman Catholic faith provoked curiosity and concern when he was elected president in 1960. Today, Republican Mitt Romney is facing similar questions about his Mormon faith.

Candidates try hard to woo religious voters. Surveys show that people who go to church weekly are more likely to vote; that is especially true of Republicans and even more true of Catholics.

Faith is not necessarily their main concern. In an Associated Press-Ipsos poll in March, 4 percent of those surveyed said faith or belief in God was an important quality in a presidential candidate; among Republicans, the number was 8 percent, while among Democrats, the number was 1 percent.

About 25 percent of Catholics support Giuliani, while 22 percent are undecided, AP-Ipsos surveys in June and July found.

While Republicans have been more successful with religious voters — President Bush, a Methodist, won the Catholic vote over John Kerry, a Catholic, in 2004 — Democrats have taken a page from the GOP for 2008 and are clamoring to talk about their religious beliefs.

Republicans, at least Romney and Giuliani, are not. Yet Giuliani brings up his Catholic upbringing when it suits him.

"My first class without prayers was my first day of law school," he said last month in Le Mars, Iowa, drawing chuckles from voters at a family restaurant. An audience member had asked Giuliani to talk about his faith.

"I believe in God," Giuliani said. "I pray and ask him for help. I pray like a lawyer. I try to make a deal — get me out of this jam, and I'll start going back to church."

Giuliani's was a devoutly Catholic boyhood. He signed up for the priesthood after graduating in 1961 from Brooklyn's Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School. He changed his mind a couple of months later, deciding he was more interested in girls, he wrote in his 2002 book "Leadership."

In 1968, he married his cousin, Regina Peruggi. They divorced 14 years later, and Giuliani obtained an annulment from the Catholic Church on the grounds that as second cousins, they should have received a dispensation to marry.

Giuliani married TV newscaster Donna Hanover in 1984. She, too, had been divorced and obtained an annulment, and they wed at St. Monica's Catholic Church in Manhattan.

St. Monica's, a few blocks from the mayor's residence, was their home parish, although Giuliani has described himself as an occasional but not a regular churchgoer. He also attended midnight Mass on Christmas at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

"No, I don't attend Mass regularly, but I go to Mass occasionally," he told American Enterprise magazine in 1999.

At key moments in his church life, Giuliani's close friend, Monsignor Alan Placa, has been at his side. Placa was best man at Giuliani's first wedding, officiated at the second and baptized Giuliani's son and daughter.

Placa was barred from the ministry after he was accused of sexual abuse, but he received special permission to preside at the funeral of Giuilani's mother, Helen, in 2002. Placa has been working for his friend's consulting business, Giuliani Partners, despite the urging of abuse victims that he be terminated.

Giulani's third wedding, to Judith Nathan, took place at the mayoral residence, Gracie Mansion, in 2003, after the nasty and public fight waged over his 2002 divorce from Hanover. Hanover learned that Giuliani wanted to split when he announced his decision at a news conference.

His marital history puts him in a different position than Kerry, who obtained an annulment before marrying his second wife, Teresa Heinz, and regularly attends Mass.

Both are at odds with the church because they favor abortion rights. In 2004, several bishops said they would refuse communion for Kerry, the Democratic nominee, over the abortion issue. And already, Providence, R.I., Bishop Thomas Tobin has criticized Giuliani's position, calling it pathetic, confusing and hypocritical.

However, while the church lets individual bishops decide whether an abortion rights candidate may receive communion, priests have no such discretion when confronted with someone who remarried without getting an annulment.

Some of Giuliani's critics, such as conservative blogger Stephen Dillard, believe his marital history is fair game. Dillard started a "Catholics Against Rudy" Web site that raises that issue, among several others.

"The way he treated his wife gives us insight into how he views the role of family, how he views marriage, how he views the church's teaching on adultery and divorce," Dillard said.

Religious scholars say that Giuliani's willingness to talk about some, but not all, aspects of his faith is inconsistent.

"If you identify yourself that way in a public forum and then try to shut down any questions, that's not going to work," said the Rev. James Heft, religion professor and president of the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at the University of Southern California.

___

AP Manager of News Surveys Trevor Tompson and AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

Romney adapts business plan to politics By GLEN JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer

Romney adapts business plan to politics By GLEN JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
49 minutes ago



URBANDALE, Iowa - Like millions of bargain hunters, Mitt Romney and his son Josh went on eBay earlier this year, not in search of someone else's trash, but their own political treasure.

ADVERTISEMENT


They found it in Phoenix, and the Republican presidential contender made the winning bid on a recreational vehicle. Driven north by his son, and shrink-wrapped in $10,000 worth of Romney campaign graphics, the Iowa-made Itasca Sunstar became the "Mitt Mobile."

Josh Romney ended up touring all 99 Iowa counties in the RV this summer, a 3,500-mile trek symbolic of his father's workmanlike approach to winning not only Saturday's Iowa straw poll but, more importantly, the Iowa caucuses.

The Harvard Business School graduate has hired some of the most accomplished workers and allowed them to develop a game plan that he, his family and their aides are working tirelessly to execute.

"Iowa has a big voice to be heard when it comes to selecting the nominee of our party," Romney told an audience in Bettendorf on Wednesday. "I care very much about this process."

While Romney trails front-runner Rudy Giuliani in national polls, the former Massachusetts governor leads in Iowa and New Hampshire, which kick off the nomination process. Giuliani and another top GOP contender, Arizona Sen. John McCain, decided to skip the straw poll rather than risk an embarrassing loss to the upstart Romney. Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, who has also led Romney in polls, will not formally announce his candidacy until next month.

"I would have to say, and I don't think I'd get much argument, that from an Iowa perspective, Mitt Romney has put together the strongest ground game we've ever seen in Iowa. It just is," said Chuck Laudner, executive director of the Republican Party of Iowa and an avowed neutral observer of the race.

"They've been here longer, their staff is deeper, and they're organized farther down into the county level than any campaign I can remember," Laudner said.

That's not just the plan in Iowa, where Romney had 12 town hall meetings scheduled in the final three days before the poll. His stops Friday included the Iowa State Fair, where he was serving as the Iowa Pork Producers' "celebrity chef of the day."

He's employing the same business model in New Hampshire, where he's hired veteran GOP strategist Tom Rath; in Florida, where many of former Gov. Jeb Bush's top aides are in senior positions on his campaign; and in Michigan, where Romney's father, George, once served as governor and is fondly remembered.

Romney has bombarded Iowa, South Carolina and the other states with television commercials. They are part of an unprecedented $5 million early ad buy — financed with loans from the multimillionaire himself — aimed at boosting his name recognition.

The campaign's overall strategy is to win in Iowa and New Hampshire and then use the momentum to roll into the Feb. 5 mega-primary in which 20-odd states from California to New York are planning to vote. Romney's fellow Bay Stater, Democrat John Kerry, won his party's 2004 presidential nomination in similar fashion.

The primacy Romney has placed on Iowa is evident in one simple fact: Gentry Collins, his state campaign director, is being paid $73 more than the $100,000 annual salary for Beth Myers, who is responsible for Romney's overall effort as national campaign manager.

Romney is also getting strategic advice from Doug Gross, who served as chief of staff to Terry Branstad, who was Iowa's longest-serving governor, and assistance with the straw poll from Nicole Schlinger, who founded the largest fundraising and event management company for Iowa GOP candidates.

While former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson has made the most visits to Iowa of any GOP candidate, traveling across the border at least once a week every week this year, Romney had participated in 272 fundraisers, voter and media meetings — and traveled 3,600 miles — before beginning his final pre-poll blitz on Wednesday.

Inside Romney's state headquarters, located here in a former cell phone company office west of Des Moines, a map breaks Iowa into 10 regions, based on expected caucus turnout. The most compact, Region 6, centers on Des Moines, the most populous district.

Each region is staffed by a field director who coordinates with county chairmen and other political types in the district. Like other candidates, Romney bought a list of past caucus-goers from the state GOP and is mining it for potential supporters. Every day volunteers make calls from the list, as well as their own lists of friends, neighbors and business associates.

"You're talking about a very limited number of people who participate in the caucuses," said Collins, a former executive director of the state GOP. The record turnout was in 1988, when 109,000 Republicans participated.

"There isn't a vote out there that doesn't have a great deal of value. So, you go anywhere you have to to get it," said Collins.

One small but potentially potent bloc: Romney's fellow Mormons. While a church almanac says there are only 22,100 Mormons in Iowa, seven-tenths of 1 percent of the state's overall population, if they appear en masse at the caucuses, it could be a boon to Romney.

Gross and Collins said the campaign is not targeting them per se, but they hope Romney's clean-living lifestyle helps them generally with evangelicals and other social conservatives.

Romney has hammered on popular Iowa themes: opposition to the inheritance tax, which hurts family farmers who want to pass their property to their children; criticism of illegal immigration, which some Iowans feel costs them jobs; and a call for a bipartisan panel to review Social Security, a key concern in the state historically with the country's oldest population.

Dennis Goldford, a political science professor at Drake University, said Romney has also been helped by his $35 million worth of campaign fundraising — tops in the GOP field — and his prodigious ad buys highlighting his conservative message.

"He's got a message tailored to and committed for the evangelicals, as well as the business community, and he's got the money to broadcast that message," said Goldford. "And nobody else is on stage at this point for them to hear a competing message."

Man pleads not guilty in student deaths By JANET FRANKSTON LORIN, Associated Press Writer

Man pleads not guilty in student deaths By JANET FRANKSTON LORIN, Associated Press Writer
29 minutes ago



NEWARK, N.J. - A man accused in the killings of three college students and the wounding of another pleaded not guilty Friday in a crime that has outraged a city fed up with continued violence.

ADVERTISEMENT


Speaking through a Spanish interpreter, Jose Carranza said he understood the charges against him. It was his first court appearance since he surrendered Thursday to Mayor Cory A. Booker.

Carranza, 28, was being held on $1 million bail. His lawyer, Felix Lopez Montalvo, declined to comment after the 11-minute hearing.

A second suspect, a 15-year-old boy, was being held pending a detention hearing. Authorities are seeking to have him tried as an adult. His name was not released because of his age.

Both have been charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and related charges.

The shootings ratcheted up anger in New Jersey's largest city, where overall crime has declined but where killings continued at last year's pace with 60 homicides so far this year. The killings have prompted billboards in the downtown area that scream, "HELP WANTED: Stop the Killings in Newark Now!"

Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow has said authorities hoped to arrest others they believe were involved in the killings.

The four victims, friends aged 18 to 20, were shot while visiting in a schoolyard near their homes Saturday night. Authorities have said robbery appeared to be the motive.

Terrance Aeriel, 18, Dashon Harvey, 20, and Iofemi Hightower, 20, were forced to kneel against a wall and were shot at close range. The fourth victim, 19-year-old Natasha Aeriel, Terrance Aeriel's sister, survived a wound to her head and is hospitalized. All four planned to attend Delaware State University this fall.

Officials said fingerprints on a bottle found at the shooting scene and ballistics evidence tied Carranza to the crime. Natasha Aeriel has also helped identify the suspects.

Authorities do not believe the four victims knew the suspects.

Residents and law enforcement organizations donated $150,000 to aid the victims' families and to a reward fund for information on the case.

___

Associated Press writers David Porter and Jeffrey Gold in Newark, and Daniela Flores in Trenton contributed to this story.

Man skips security, boards plane in N.C. 13 minutes ago

Man skips security, boards plane in N.C. 13 minutes ago



CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A man bypassed security screening Friday at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport and likely made it onto a flight that departed before he could be found, officials said.

ADVERTISEMENT


The man slipped past screeners shortly before 8 a.m., a Transportation Security Administration spokesman said. Officials searched about 15 planes on the ground and shut down a concourse without finding him, spokesman Jon Allen said.

Allen said 12 other flights left the airport before the search, and officials believe the man is on one of those flights. Those passengers will be screened when they land, he said.

"It's too soon to say whether there was malicious intent or whether it was someone who was confused and passed the security screening," Allen said.

Flights were delayed for about an hour, said Kathleen Bergen, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman in Atlanta. Some planes were held on the tarmac but later cleared to leave, while others were directed to return to the gate, she said.

(This version corrects the spelling of Allen's given name.)

Security Council OKs expanded Iraq role 36 minutes ago

Security Council OKs expanded Iraq role 36 minutes ago



UNITED NATIONS - The Security Council unanimously approved a resolution Friday expanding the United Nations' role in Iraq in a move aimed at reconciling the country's rival groups, winning support from neighboring countries and tackling Iraq's humanitarian crisis.

ADVERTISEMENT


The resolution authorizes the U.N., at the request of the Iraqi government, to promote political talks among the country's ethnic and religious groups and a regional dialogue on issues including border security, energy and refugees.

The United States and Britain, who have the largest military forces in Iraq and cosponsored the resolution, believe the U.N. should play a greater part there because the world body is viewed by many as a more neutral party that can facilitate talks among feuding parties.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said a resolution that would expand the U.N. mandate in Iraq will internationalize the effort to assist Iraqis in overcoming their internal differences and bringing neighboring countries together to help the country.

"This is not a substitute for what the United States is doing," he told The Associated Press on the eve of Friday's vote on the resolution, which is co-sponsored by the U.S. and Britain.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said he expected the resolution to be unanimously approved.

The sponsors delayed a vote so that Iraq's prime minister could revise the text, which would authorize the world body to help the government promote national reconciliation, better relations with its neighbors and deal with humanitarian concerns.

Khalilzad said he was informed Thursday that the Iraqis are now satisfied with the resolution. Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari sent a letter asking that the mandate of the U.N. mission, which expires Friday, be extended for a year — a requirement before the resolution can be adopted.

In the letter, Zebari said "Iraq's interests" require an expansion of the U.N. role "on both the humanitarian and the political tracks, domestically and regionally."

This is essential, he said, "particularly in respect to facilitating the return to Iraq of U.N. specialized agencies, funds and programs ... to rebuild and stabilize Iraq ... and to begin a comprehensive effort to reverse the deterioration of Iraq's infrastructure."

The U.N. mission has helped organize elections, draft Iraq's constitution and develop institutions for representative government.

The draft resolution would authorize it to "advise, support and assist the government and people of Iraq on advancing their inclusive, political dialogue and national reconciliation."

It also would authorize the U.N. to facilitate "regional dialogue, including on issues of border security, energy and refugees." It asks the U.N. to help develop ways "to resolve disputed internal boundaries" that are acceptable to the government.

The initial text was revised to put more focus on human rights, humanitarian issues, protecting civilians and promoting the safety of humanitarian personnel.

Amnesty International's Secretary General Irene Khan had complained that the original text was completely "silent on the gross human rights abuses taking place on a daily basis in Iraq, and on the deepening humanitarian crisis in the country," a view echoed by other rights groups.

In the final draft, the Iraqi government inserted language underscoring its sovereignty and added a call for "adequate resources" to address humanitarian issues.

Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador, stressed that the resolution will not replace U.S. activities and said "this is adding to, and integrating our effort, as part of the broader international effort to assist Iraq."

"It is a recognition by the international community that what happens in Iraq affects the future of the world and ... it can contribute to helping Iraqis in this very difficult transition that they are in," Khalilzad said.

Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs B. Lynne Pascoe said Tuesday the new mandate being considered by the council would enable the U.N. to work on issues "that clearly need to be done out there" — especially national reconciliation, humanitarian assistance and dealing with the millions of Iraqis who have fled their homes.

He said the United Nations expects to raise the ceiling for international staff in Iraq from 65 to 95 by October. Hours later, the U.N. Staff Council called on Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to pull all U.N. personnel out of the country until security improves.

Pascoe stressed that there are two constraints to an expanded U.N. role: Iraqi political leaders must decide what they want the U.N. to do, and security conditions must be sufficient for U.N. staffers to work, an issue the U.N. watches daily.

Security for U.N. staff is a very sensitive issue.

Former Secretary-General Kofi Annan pulled all U.N. international staff out of Iraq in October 2003 after two bombings at U.N. headquarters in Baghdad and a spate of attacks on humanitarian workers.

The first bombing, on Aug. 19, 2003, killed the top U.N. envoy, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and 21 others. Annan allowed 35 U.N. international staffers to return in August 2004, but the U.N. presence has remained small because of security threats.

Khalilzad said that "you cannot allow concerns about security to prevent the institution that can help Iraqis overcome this challenge from doing so.

"At the same time, one has to do everything that one can to minimize, to mitigate the dangers that exist," he said. "I understand the concerns of the U.N. staff. With this new mandate, we are prepared to do our part to help the U.N. with security, with logistics."

No sound from 6 trapped Utah miners By GARANCE BURKE, Associated Press Writer

No sound from 6 trapped Utah miners By GARANCE BURKE, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 24 minutes ago



HUNTINGTON, Utah - A tiny microphone lowered deep into the earth early Friday picked up no evidence that six coal miners caught in a cave-in four days ago were still alive. But an air sample indicated there was enough oxygen to breathe in the chamber where the miners were believed to be trapped, and rescuers promised to keep digging toward them.

ADVERTISEMENT

Using a steel drill bit to bore a 2 1/2-inch wide hole more than 1,800 feet into the mountain site of Monday's cave-in, rescuers finally broke through late Thursday. Though a crude air sample indicated plenty of oxygen and no methane in the pocket, it also did not pick up carbon dioxide, the gas exhaled when people breathe.

Despite the silence, company officials remained hopeful.

"I wouldn't look at it as good or bad news. The work is not done," said Bob Murray, chairman of Murray Energy Corp., who added early Friday that oxygen levels suggested that if the men survived the collapse, "they're going to stay alive in that atmosphere."

The air sample was sucked from the cavity through a steel tube, with a microphone attached to pick up any signs of life.

The drill bit finally broke through at 9:47 p.m. MDT on Thursday, more than two days after drilling began. Two hours later, Murray and officials from the Mine Safety and Health Administration said there was no immediate response after the drill reached the pocket.

Meanwhile, drilling continued on a second, wider hole, which could accommodate a powerful camera to provide a view inside the pocket, deliver food and water, and hopefully give a more definitive answer about the miners' fate.

Richard Stickler, head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, said there was a chance the smaller hole could collapse, so rescuers were leaving the steel pipe and microphone where they were and did not plan on sending down a camera until drilling the nearly 9-inch hole reached the chamber.

The second hole was about 1,000 feet deep just before sunrise Friday, Stickler said, leaving more than 800 feet to go. Stickler said that drilling could be finished by Friday night.

Work also continued in the mine itself, where rescuers were slowly burrowing through the debris to reach the workers.

"It's incredibly labor-intensive," said Rob Moore, vice president of Murray Energy.

Relatives shouldn't be discouraged by the lack of carbon dioxide, a lawyer for the company said.

"What you got was a quick sample from a crude instrument, so you don't get all the constituents reported," said attorney Christopher Van Bever.

If the miners are alive, they might be sitting in inky darkness, their headlamps likely having burned out. Wearing thin work clothes in the 58-degree cold, they could be chilled to the bone if water is seeping into their chamber 150 stories below ground, other miners say. Murray said each miner would typically have had a half-gallon of water.

At the time of the collapse, the six miners were working in an area with an 8-foot ceiling. Corridors in the mine are typically about 14 feet wide.

The mining company has withheld the names of the six miners. The Associated Press has confirmed five identities: Carlos Payan, Don Erickson, Kerry Allred, Manuel Sanchez and Brandon Phillips.

The men's families were praying for their survival, one relative said.

"There are all types of conditions that could be in there for these folks ... some little cavity, some little corner," said Arch Allred, cousin of miner Kerry Allred.

___

Associated Press writers Pauline Arrillaga, Jennifer Dobner and Brock Vergakis in Huntington contributed to this report.

North Korea condemns U.S. war games By KWANG-TAE KIM, Associated Press Writer

North Korea condemns U.S. war games By KWANG-TAE KIM, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 1 minute ago



SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea delivered a demand to the U.S. military on Friday that it call off war maneuvers with South Korea scheduled at the same time as the second-ever summit between the rival Koreas later this month.

ADVERTISEMENT

During a meeting held at the North's request at the truce village of Panmunjom, North Korean officers read a statement to U.S. soldiers saying the exercises would have a "catastrophic impact" on ongoing six-nation negotiations on North Korea's nuclear disarmament.

North Korea also issued a vaguely worded threat, carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency, against the "large-scale war maneuvers." Such threats by North Korea are common, and the country regularly criticizes the annual Ulchi Focus Lens military exercises, held since 1975.

The drills are to involve about 10,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea and abroad, according to the U.S. military.

The U.S. insists the drills are solely defensive and not a threat, and U.S. Army Col. John Towers repeated that position during the 35-minute meeting with his North Korean counterpart Friday, the U.S. military said.

This year's exercise is scheduled for Aug. 20-31, meaning it would overlap with a meeting between the leaders of the two Koreas on Aug. 28-30 in Pyongyang, the second summit since the peninsula was divided after World War II.

Some local media reports have suggested that the drills could be delayed because of the summit, but the South Korean government said it has not considered changing the previously scheduled exercises.

The drills "would not be any big problem" because they do not involve large movements of troops, presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-sun said.

The U.S. military also said in a statement that the exercises "will proceed as announced."

About 28,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically at war.

Taliban: Afghan hostage talks planned By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer

Taliban: Afghan hostage talks planned By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer
20 minutes ago



GHAZNI, Afghanistan - The Taliban said Friday that the Afghan government has promised safe passage to two Taliban leaders so they could meet with South Korean negotiators to discuss the fate of 21 hostages from the Asian country.

ADVERTISEMENT


The government did not immediately confirm the claim by a Taliban spokesman. The Taliban spokesman said the safety guarantee was contained in a letter from the government.

Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, said two members of the Taliban's top council — Mullah Bashir and Mullah Nasorullah — would reach the city of Ghazni "soon" for talks, possibly to be held at the governor's house. He said the government in Kabul gave the Taliban a written safety guarantee for the two officials' lives.

Ahmdi also said the Taliban would not kill any of the 21 remaining South Korean hostages until the face-to-face meetings have been held. Two men among the group of 23 South Koreans kidnapped on July 19 have already been killed.

The captors have repeatedly threatened to kill more of the Koreans if their demands to release Taliban prisoners held by the Afghan government and the U.S. military are not met.

The Afghan government has said it will not release prisoners, because it could encourage more kidnappings.

So far, there has been no sign of a breakthrough between the Taliban and Afghan officials and local tribal elders.

The South Korean government has issued guidelines to its aid organizations telling them to leave Afghanistan by the end of the month for safety reasons, a South Korean Embassy official said on condition of anonymity due to policy. Last month, the government banned its citizens from traveling to Afghanistan.

Ahmadi said the departure of Korean aid workers would have a "positive effect." He did not elaborate.

In South Korea, a spokesman for the hostages' families said on Friday the mothers of several hostages — five women and a translator — will travel to the emirate of Dubai next week to seek help from the Arab world in securing their loved ones' release.

"The reason why we are sending women, especially mothers, to Dubai is that Islamic culture has more sympathy for women," said the spokesman, Cha Sung-min.

The 23 South Koreans were abducted in the Qarabagh district of Ghazni province as they traveled by bus from Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar.

Afghan authorities say talks with the Taliban, who have demanded the release of Taliban prisoners, are the best way to resolve the problem.

The captives — volunteers from a church group who planned to do health work in Afghanistan — include 16 women and five men.

___

Associated Press reporter Noor Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.

Drug kingpin in Brazil ID'd by voice By ALAN CLENDENNING, Associated Press Writer

Drug kingpin in Brazil ID'd by voice By ALAN CLENDENNING, Associated Press Writer
16 minutes ago



SAO PAULO, Brazil - A reputed leader of Colombia's biggest drug cartel, his features radically altered by plastic surgery, was identified by Brazilian and American anti-drug agents using advanced voice recognition technology, the suspect's lawyer said Friday.

ADVERTISEMENT


Brazilian police had difficulty making a positive identification of Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia while they investigated a money laundering scheme he orchestrated in hiding in Brazil, but got a break after taping him on the telephone and passing that information to agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, said the lawyer, Sergio Alambert.

The recording was compared in the United States to other tapes of Abadia's voice, leading to a match that allowed Brazilian police to identify him so he could be arrested, Alambert told The Associated Press.

Richard Mei, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia, declined comment on the voice recognition techniques but said the DEA helped in the Brazilian investigation into Ramirez Abadia.

After the positive ID was made, Abadia was arrested Tuesday in a luxurious home on the outskirts of Sao Paulo with a gym, sauna, plasma TVs, a swimming pool and nearly $1 million in stashed cash. Authorities found another $1 million buried in the garden of another home near Sao Paulo on Thursday, the lawyer said.

Alambert said Ramirez Abadia, 44, arrived illegally in Brazil four years ago and admits using profits from cocaine shipments by his Norte del Valle cartel to make investments in Brazil. But the lawyer said allegations that he amassed a business empire catering to the nation's big-spending elite are exaggerated.

"He was doing legitimate business but using money from trafficking," Alambert said.

Ramirez Abadia told his lawyer he left Colombia for Brazil because he feared he might be killed by rival drug gang members, and was not involved in any drug trafficking in Brazil. The nation is a major transshipment point for cocaine sent from other South American nations, and Brazilian domestic cocaine consumption is growing dramatically.

American officials have said they will soon file papers to extradite Ramirez Abadia to face racketeering charges, and Colombian authorities have hinted they may also seek custody of the alleged drug lord.

But Ramirez Abadia told Alambert he fears he would be killed in Colombia, and wants to serve his time in the United States.

While Ramirez Abadia initially indicated after his arrest that he would cooperate with drug agents investigating Colombia's drug exports to the United States, he has since changed his mind because he fears his relatives in Colombia would face retaliation, Alambert said.

"He told me yesterday it's not worth it," Alambert said. "He said, 'They can send me away, I'll take the blame, but it's all mine.'"

Ramirez Abadia was indicted in the U.S. in 2004 on racketeering charges as an alleged key member of the Norte del Valle cartel that sent 550 tons of cocaine to the U.S. from 1990 to 2003.

Brazil's Supreme Court will decide whether Ramirez Abadia will be extradited, though Brazilian law bans sending foreign suspects back home if they face the death penalty of a sentence of more than 30 years.

Ramirez Abadia is also expected to face Brazilian charges of money laundering, gang formation and use of illegal documents while in the country, but Alambert said his client hopes American and Brazilian authorities will make a deal so he can be sent directly to the United States to serve time in prison.

Extradition cases frequently drag on for months or years in Brazil's Supreme Court, and the possibility of competing requests from the U.S. and Colombia could create even more delays.

Police said Ramirez Abadia — nicknamed "Chupeta," or lollipop — arrived from Colombia to oversee his gang's Brazilian investments and underwent plastic surgery at least twice to alter his appearance.

The effort by authorities to identify Ramirez Abadia was complicated by the plastic surgeries, and because he used numerous aliases, Alambert said.

The Norte del Valle cartel emerged as Colombia's most powerful drug gang in the mid-1990s, and the U.S. State Department in September 2004 began offering up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest of its leaders.

Ramirez Abadia was sentenced to 13 years in a Colombian prison in 1996 on drug trafficking and racketeering after turning himself in to benefit from a law that allowed him to avoid extradition by admitting to his crimes. He was released in 2001.

His fortune once reached $1.8 billion, but he is believed to be indebted to other traffickers, the State Department said.

New foot-and-mouth report in Britain By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press Writer

New foot-and-mouth report in Britain By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 24 minutes ago



LONDON - Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Friday that foot-and-mouth disease had been contained within a small area of England, despite tests for a suspected new outbreak in a herd several miles from the initial cluster of cases.

ADVERTISEMENT

The news raised fears the virus was spreading beyond the area of the original outbreak, despite strict measures to contain it. However, the farmer affected said he was confident his animals did not have foot-and-mouth, and officials said they were optimistic the disease had not spread beyond the southern county of Surrey where it was first discovered last week.

"We have restricted the disease to a limited area of this country," Brown said. "The risk of it spreading out of these areas is low, if not negligible."

Chief Veterinary Officer Debby Reynolds said an interim epidemiology report on the outbreak "indicates that infection may be contained to the Surrey area."

Reynolds said late Thursday that cows in a second area of Surrey had shown "mild clinical signs of infections," announcing that a new 1.8-mile exclusion zone had been set up around a farm previously unlinked to the outbreak.

The possible new case renewed worries of a repeat of scenes like those in 2001, when 7 million animals were killed and incinerated on pyres. Britain's agriculture and rural tourism industries were devastated.

The new suspected case is around nine miles away from two farms where cases have been confirmed and a third plot where cattle have been killed as a precaution.

The farmer at the site, near the village of Wotton, said he had called a veterinarian after noticing signs of illness in some of his calves, and because he had links with the area where the earlier outbreaks occurred.

"The vet was absolutely sure this was not foot-and-mouth," said the farmer, Laurence Matthews.

He said he was awaiting the results of tests, expected later Friday, "and hopefully they will not show foot-and-mouth at this farm."

Foot-and-mouth disease does not typically infect humans, but its appearance among farm animals can have a swift and possibly far-reaching economic impact — several countries have banned imports of British livestock and Britain has voluntarily suspended exports of livestock, meat and milk products and destroyed more than 570 cows since the outbreak was identified last week.

Britain's health and safety agency says there is a "strong probability" that outbreak originated at the Pirbright laboratory southwest of London and was spread by human movement.

The virus was first discovered last week on a farm four miles from the Pirbright complex, which houses vaccine-maker Merial Animal Health — the British arm of U.S.-French pharmaceutical firm Merial Ltd. — and Britain's Institute of Animal Health.

Merial said it has found no evidence of breaches in biosecurity at the facility. The Institute of Animal Health said Thursday new checks of systems to prevent viruses escaping through the facility's water system had reported no problems.

"People are going to be even more apprehensive than they have been throughout the whole of this," Hugh Broom, of the National Farmers' Union, told British Broadcasting Corp. television. "It will be worrying for members here and farmers elsewhere in the country."

On Wednesday, Britain relaxed a nationwide ban on moving livestock, believing the outbreaks had been contained to a region near the Pirbright complex.

Foot-and-mouth can be carried by wind and on the vehicles and clothes of people who come into contact with infected animals.

AT&T errs in edit of anti-Bush lyrics By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer

AT&T errs in edit of anti-Bush lyrics By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 43 minutes ago



SAN ANTONIO - Lyrics performed by Pearl Jam criticizing President Bush should not have been censored from a webcast by AT&T Inc., a company spokesman acknowledged Thursday.

ADVERTISEMENT

AT&T, through its Blue Room entertainment site, offered a webcast of the band's headlining performance Sunday at Lollapalooza in Chicago. The event was shown with a brief delay so the company could bleep out excessive profanity or nudity.

But monitors hired by AT&T through a vendor went further and cut two lines from a song to the tune of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall." One was "George Bush, leave this world alone" the second time it was sung, and the other was "George Bush find yourself another home," according to the band's Web site.

AT&T spokesman Michael Coe said that the silencing was a mistake and that the company was working with the vendor that produces the webcasts to avoid future misunderstandings. He said AT&T was working to secure the rights to post the entire song — part of a sing-along with the audience — on the Blue Room site.

Blue Room offers live concerts, sports interviews, video game advice and other entertainment content that requires a high-speed Internet connection. Although viewing the content is free, San Antonio-based AT&T uses the site as a way to promote its DSL broadband services.

Besides Pearl Jam's show, AT&T showed 21 other performances ranging from Pete Yorn to G. Love and Special Sauce during the three-day Lollapalooza music festival. Coe said no other complaints have been made about censoring.

Pearl Jam said in a posting on its Web site that in the future, it would work harder to ensure live broadcasts or webcasts are "free from arbitrary edits."

"If a company that is controlling a webcast is cutting out bits of our performance — not based on laws, but on their own preferences and interpretations — fans have little choice but to watch the censored version," they said.

The alternative rock band and Internet advocates were also using the incident to try to draw attention to the prospects of Internet service providers like AT&T deciding to give preferential treatment to content they favor or have deals with, leaving the rest on slower-moving Internet bandwidths.

Jenny Toomey, executive director of the Future of Music Coalition, said that although net neutrality wasn't being violated in this case, it still raises questions about whether AT&T and other service providers can be trusted not to hurt artists.

Internet speeds that depend only on the size of files, not the kind of content that's in them, is a democratizing force, she said.

"We've got to protect that, and artists get that," Toomey said.

AT&T and other providers would like the ability to charge more for transmitting certain kinds of data, like live video, faster or more reliably than other data but have insisted such premium services would help, not hurt, consumers.

Coe said, regardless, the issue of net neutrality is entirely separate from the mistake during the Pearl Jam show.

"This was our own Web site," he noted.

___

On the Net:

Edited Webcast as posted on YouTube by the Future of Music Coalition:

http://tinyurl.com/37wst3

AT&T Blue Room: http://attblueroom.com

Pearl Jam: http://pearljam.com

AT&T errs in edit of anti-Bush lyrics By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer

AT&T errs in edit of anti-Bush lyrics By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 42 minutes ago



SAN ANTONIO - Lyrics performed by Pearl Jam criticizing President Bush should not have been censored from a webcast by AT&T Inc., a company spokesman acknowledged Thursday.

ADVERTISEMENT


AT&T, through its Blue Room entertainment site, offered a webcast of the band's headlining performance Sunday at Lollapalooza in Chicago. The event was shown with a brief delay so the company could bleep out excessive profanity or nudity.

But monitors hired by AT&T through a vendor went further and cut two lines from a song to the tune of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall." One was "George Bush, leave this world alone" the second time it was sung, and the other was "George Bush find yourself another home," according to the band's Web site.

AT&T spokesman Michael Coe said that the silencing was a mistake and that the company was working with the vendor that produces the webcasts to avoid future misunderstandings. He said AT&T was working to secure the rights to post the entire song — part of a sing-along with the audience — on the Blue Room site.

Blue Room offers live concerts, sports interviews, video game advice and other entertainment content that requires a high-speed Internet connection. Although viewing the content is free, San Antonio-based AT&T uses the site as a way to promote its DSL broadband services.

Besides Pearl Jam's show, AT&T showed 21 other performances ranging from Pete Yorn to G. Love and Special Sauce during the three-day Lollapalooza music festival. Coe said no other complaints have been made about censoring.

Pearl Jam said in a posting on its Web site that in the future, it would work harder to ensure live broadcasts or webcasts are "free from arbitrary edits."

"If a company that is controlling a webcast is cutting out bits of our performance — not based on laws, but on their own preferences and interpretations — fans have little choice but to watch the censored version," they said.

The alternative rock band and Internet advocates were also using the incident to try to draw attention to the prospects of Internet service providers like AT&T deciding to give preferential treatment to content they favor or have deals with, leaving the rest on slower-moving Internet bandwidths.

Jenny Toomey, executive director of the Future of Music Coalition, said that although net neutrality wasn't being violated in this case, it still raises questions about whether AT&T and other service providers can be trusted not to hurt artists.

Internet speeds that depend only on the size of files, not the kind of content that's in them, is a democratizing force, she said.

"We've got to protect that, and artists get that," Toomey said.

AT&T and other providers would like the ability to charge more for transmitting certain kinds of data, like live video, faster or more reliably than other data but have insisted such premium services would help, not hurt, consumers.

Coe said, regardless, the issue of net neutrality is entirely separate from the mistake during the Pearl Jam show.

"This was our own Web site," he noted.

___

On the Net:

Edited Webcast as posted on YouTube by the Future of Music Coalition:

http://tinyurl.com/37wst3

AT&T Blue Room: http://attblueroom.com

Pearl Jam: http://pearljam.com

China's trade surplus up 67 pct. in July By JOE McDONALD, AP Business Writer

China's trade surplus up 67 pct. in July By JOE McDONALD, AP Business Writer
40 minutes ago



BEIJING - China's trade surplus soared to its second-highest monthly level on record in July, according to data reported Friday, amid mounting pressure by U.S. lawmakers to sanction Beijing over trade and currency disputes.

July's surplus totaled $24.4 billion, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the Chinese customs agency. That was a 67 percent jump from the year-earlier period and beat every previous month except June's all-time high of $26.9 billion.

Analysts had expected the surplus to ease in July after exporters rushed to ship goods in earlier months to beat changes in tax policy meant to narrow China's yawning trade gap.

The surplus grew despite recalls and warnings targeting faulty or tainted Chinese goods ranging from toothpaste to tires to seafood in the United States and other countries.

The United States and other trading partners are pressing Beijing to ease currency controls and barriers to imports. Some U.S. lawmakers are pressing for sanctions on China if it fails to ease controls on its currency, the yuan, which critics say is undervalued and gives Chinese exporters an unfair price advantage.

The U.S. Senate is considering two measures to penalize China for its currency controls.

Those bills were approved by Senate panels over the protests of U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who is carrying on a long-running "strategic economic dialogue" with Beijing over trade and other disputes and says legislation would set back that effort.

The July figure raised China's total trade surplus for the first seven months of this year to $136.8 billion, according to Xinhua.

Beijing insists it is not actively pursuing a trade surplus and has tried to cool the boom by repealing rebates of value-added taxes on hundreds of products and imposing additional taxes on exports of some goods such as steel.

But despite such steps, foreign demand for Chinese goods has surged while import growth has slowed due to government efforts to contain a boom in construction and investment that it worries could cause a financial crisis. That has cut into Chinese purchases of factory equipment and other foreign goods.

China has reported its five highest monthly trade surpluses in the past ten months.

June's record $26.9 billion broke the earlier record of $23.8 billion set in October and surpassed February's $23.7 billion and May's $22.4 billion.

The United States reported a trade deficit of $232.5 billion with China last year, its biggest ever with any country. This year's gap is expected to exceed that.

Company had record of lead in toys Fri Aug 10, 12:20 AM ET

Company had record of lead in toys Fri Aug 10, 12:20 AM ET



CHICAGO - The toy company that issued a voluntary recall for a Thomas & Friends spinning top this week had a 2002 test report showing the toy contained lead paint, according to a published report.

The Chicago Tribune reported in its Thursday editions that toymaker Schylling Associates Inc. changed the design of the toy that year rather than recalling it when a test found it had lead paint.

The Rowley, Mass.-based company Wednesday initiated a voluntary recall for 51,000 tops under its Thomas & Friends, Curious George and Circus Top lines, according to a statement issued Thursday.

"We are currently reviewing all products manufacturing during that time period to ensure their safety," company president Jack Schylling said in the statement.

Jim Leonard, Schylling's chief operating officer, said he found a June 2002 test report showing that the Thomas & Friends top contained lead paint on its wooden knob. The company replaced the knob with a plastic one a month later.

When asked by the Tribune why the company didn't recall the toy then, Leonard said, "I can't answer that. ... I had just started here."

The company reviewed its records after the Tribune bought one of the spinning tops online through eBay and had it tested at a University of Iowa lab. The test found the toy had a lead content of 2.4 percent, 40 times higher than the legal limit for lead paint.

When told of the test results, Chief Executive David Schylling told the Tribune earlier this week he was "amazed."

He said the company has been selling the toys for about 10 years, and they included wooden knobs painted red for about a year. The company was aware of problems with lead paint being used on the knobs, he said.

"We have rejected shipments that tested positive," he said. "And they've remade the goods and they've used different paint and they've been accepted."

Leonard said the company also is examining whether lead contaminated a similar toy called a Circus Top along with several types of metal pails with wooden handles.

"It's very clear we have a product we sold that had lead it in," he said. "It's not something we intended or wanted to have happen. We're very frustrated by that."

In June, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall 2,300 Schylling toy barbecues, because of the danger of laceration from sharp edges.

Chinese-made products account for more than 60 percent of the CSPC-announced recalls this year.

Stocks plummet on subprime lending woes By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer

Stocks plummet on subprime lending woes By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer
Fri Aug 10, 12:09 AM ET



NEW YORK - The realization that weakness in the U.S. housing and credit markets is spreading — and affecting companies and markets abroad — sent Wall Street skidding sharply lower once more.

The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index suffered their biggest one-day plunges since Feb. 27, when subprime mortgage-related jitters were also partially responsible for a sell-off.

This time, investors cashed out of stocks and fled to safer assets such as U.S. Treasury bonds when a French bank said it was freezing three funds that invested in U.S. subprime mortgages. The reason: It was unable to properly value their assets. The announcement rekindled investors' fears that financial institutions will get tighter with their assets, and that companies, investors and individuals won't be able to borrow money.

As hard a fall as stocks took Thursday, the session was just the latest in a string of volatile days on Wall Street. Yet the Dow, bouncing up and down in triple-digit swings on an almost daily basis for the past few weeks, is only 5.2 percent below its record high reached last month, and is still up 6.5 percent for the year.

It doesn't look like Wall Street will be able to shake its fears about the credit market anytime soon.

A move by the European Central Bank to provide more cash to money markets added to Wall Street's anxiety Thursday. The ECB's loan of more than $130 billion to banks at a low rate of 4 percent — its biggest loan ever — was intended to placate the markets, but investors thought it confirmed that the credit markets are in need of a bailout.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve added a larger-than-normal $24 billion in temporary reserves to the U.S. banking system, and the Bank of Japan injected about $8.4 billion into money markets.

The ECB's injection of money into the system is an unprecedented move and suggests that problems in subprime lending are, in fact, spilling into the general economy, said Joseph V. Battipaglia, chief investment officer at Ryan Beck & Co.

"This is a mini-panic," he said. "All the things that had been denied up until this point are unraveling. On top of this, retail sales were mediocre, which shows that indeed, the housing collapse is affecting the consumer."

U.S. retailers released July sales figures Thursday that were overall disappointing.

The French bank, BNP Paribas, said one of its units was suspending three funds, worth $3.79 billion in total, and wouldn't make investor redemptions until it could figure out how much the assets backing them were worth. These funds invest in risky home mortgages through securitization, where banks bundle different types of mortgages together and sell them to institutional investors, who then hope to benefit from homeowners making their mortgage payments.

Because many U.S. homeowners — especially those with poor credit histories, or those who signed up for loans with rates that have recently surged — haven't been making their mortgage payments, investing in these types of funds appears to be getting dicey.

Defaults, delinquencies and foreclosures don't only affect the housing market, Wall Street is discovering: When lenders suffer losses, they get tighter with their money. And if people are wary about taking on debt, corporate America's dealmaking can slow down, as buyers and sellers haggle over prices.

Raising anxiety about the credit market Thursday, The Home Depot Inc. warned that the sale of its wholesale business might bring in less than expected. The world's biggest home improvement retailer said the possible repricing is due to volatility in the stock, debt and housing markets.

Asian stocks plunge on credit fears By CARL FREIRE, Associated Press Writer

Asian stocks plunge on credit fears By CARL FREIRE, Associated Press Writer
40 minutes ago



TOKYO - Asian stocks plunged Friday as fallout spread from global market turmoil set off by concerns about credit weakness in the U.S. The Bank of Japan joined its U.S. and European counterparts in pouring cash into money markets to calm growing jitters.

ADVERTISEMENT


The Nikkei 225 index dropped 406.51 points, or 2.37 percent, to close at 16,764.09 points on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The broader Topix index, which includes all shares on the exchange's first section, fell 49.88 points, or 2.96 percent, to 1,633.93.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell as much as 80.88 points, or 4.24 percent, to 1,827.80 with issues falling across the board, especially financial stocks.

Asian markets across the region followed the general slump.

Hong Kong's blue chip Hang Seng Index was down 3 percent midday at 21,771.94. Singapore's Straits Times Index was down 3.4 percent at 3,298.88. The Philippine benchmark index was also off 3 percent, and the standard market measure in Australia was down 2.8 percent.

The plunge came after the Dow Jones industrial average fell 387.18, or 2.83 percent, to 13,270.68 in New York on Thursday after a French bank announced it was freezing funds that invested in U.S. subprime mortgages, deepening fears of a credit crunch.

Amid Friday's decline, the Bank of Japan said it injected 1 trillion yen ($8.39 billion) into money markets to curb rises in a key overnight interest rate.

The injection followed similar moves by its European and U.S. counterparts overnight.

The European Central Bank provided more than $130 billion to money markets, the bank's biggest infusion ever.

The U.S. Federal Reserve also added a larger-than-normal $24 billion in temporary reserves to the U.S. banking system.

In South Korea early Friday, blue chip stocks Samsung Electronics Co., the country's largest corporation, and Posco, the world's fourth-largest steelmaker, were down 2.6 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively.

Moves in international markets affect the Korean index, said Kang Moon-sung, a strategist at Korea Investment and Securities Co.

"So no one is confident this level is (the) bottom," Kang said.

The index has been on a tear for most of this year, rising as much as 40 percent. Last month, the benchmark closed past 2,000 for the first time.

Japan's government spokesman Yasuhisa Shiozaki tried to play down the fears about the fallout on the world's second largest economy.

"Our economy is recovering smoothly, spurred by private sector demand," Shiozaki told reporters Friday. "The government will continue to closely watch share prices and overall economic indicators," he said.

___

Associated Press writers Yuri Kageyama and Hiroko Tabuchi in Tokyo, and Kelly Olsen in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.

Sharp questions for Dems on gay marriage By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press Writer

Sharp questions for Dems on gay marriage By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press Writer
11 minutes ago



LOS ANGELES - Democratic presidential contenders Thursday sought to underscore their differences with Republicans on gay and lesbian rights, but leading candidates also faced sharp questions on their reluctance to embrace marriage for same-sex couples.

In a forum focusing on gay issues sponsored by a gay-rights organization and aired on a gay-oriented cable channel, Sen. Barack Obama argued that civil unions for same-sex couples wouldn't be a "lesser thing" than marriage. He disputed that his position on same-sex marriage made him a vestige of the past rather than an agent of change.

Obama belongs to the United Church of Christ, which supports gay marriage, but Obama has yet to go that far.

"If we have a situation in which civil unions are fully enforced, are widely recognized, people have civil rights under the law, then my sense is that's enormous progress," the Illinois Democrat said.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said the nation was on "a path to full inclusion" but added, "In my judgment, what is achievable is civil unions with full marriage rights."

New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton echoed support for civil unions. "I will be a president who will fight for you," she said.

But she also said she made a mistake in March when she steered around a question on whether homosexuality was immoral. She was asked about it at the time after Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he considered homosexual acts immoral and similar to adultery. He later said he should have not expressed his personal views. Clinton later issued a statement saying she did not think being gay was immoral.

"It was a mistake," Clinton said. "I should have put it in a broader context."

Six of the eight Democratic candidates answered questions at an event described as a milestone by organizers. It marked the first time that major presidential candidates appeared on TV specifically to address gay issues, organizers said.

Obama called the event "a historic moment ... for America."

The two-hour forum, held in a Hollywood studio with an invited audience of 200, was co-sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign, a gay-rights group active in Democratic politics, and Logo, a gay-oriented cable TV channel that aired the forum live.

"Tonight was an important night in the fight for equality," Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese, who was on a panel posing questions to the candidates, said in a statement.

"Unfortunately, we have more work to do. The overwhelming majority of the candidates do not support marriage equality. While we heard very strong commitments to civil unions and equality in federal rights and benefits, their reasons for opposing equality in civil marriage tonight became even less clear."

Of the eight Democratic candidates, two did not attend, Sens. Joe Biden of Delaware and Chris Dodd on Connecticut.

The candidates, who appeared one at a time and sat in an upholstered chair, took questions from a panel that also included singer Melissa Etheridge and Washington Post editorial writer Jonathan Capehart.

Clinton was cheered by the crowd when she alluded to the prospect for change at the White House in the 2008 election. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards argued that Democrats must speak out against discrimination coming from the other party.

Unless you speak out against intolerance, it becomes "OK for the Republicans in their politics to divide America and use hate-mongering to separate us," Edwards said.

All of the Democratic candidates support a federal ban on anti-gay job discrimination, want to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy barring gays from serving openly in the military and support civil unions that would extend marriage-like rights to same-sex couples.

A majority of Americans oppose nationwide recognition of same-sex marriage and only two of the Democrats support it — former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, both longshots for the nomination.

The forum brought some of those distinctions into focus.

When Kucinich was asked whether there was anything on the agenda for gay and lesbian rights he didn't support, he paused and said, "All I can say is, keep those contributions coming ... and you'll have the president that you want."

In a statement clearly aimed at the leading Democrats in the field, he said his support for same-sex marriage was "a question of whether you really believe in equality."

"I stand for real equality," Kucinich said.

The forum provided some moments that challenged the candidates to talk about issues that don't often arise in a campaign dominated by the Iraq war.

Etheridge, speaking to Edwards, said she had heard he once said he felt uncomfortable around gay people — an assertion contained in longtime political strategist Bob Shrum's book "No Excuses: Concessions of a Serial Campaigner."

"I'm perfectly comfortable," Edwards said. "I know where it came from. It came from a political consultant. And he's just wrong."

Richardson was asked about a remark he made on Don Imus' syndicated radio program on March 29, 2006, when he used a Spanish word that some contend is a slur against homosexuals — "maricon." He later said he was being playful but apologized to anyone who was offended.

"I meant no harm when I said that," the governor said. "I was caught off guard."

Richardson also skirted a thorny debate on homosexuality.

When asked by Etheridge whether "homosexuality is a choice or is it biological?," he said, "I don't see this as an issue of science or definition. I see gays and lesbians as human beings."

Richardson later elaborated in a statement issued by his campaign:

"Let me be clear — I do not believe that sexual orientation or gender identity happen by choice," Richardson said. "But I'm not a scientist, and the point I was trying to make is that no matter how it happens, we are all equal and should be treated that way under the law."

Logo, available in about 27 million homes, wanted to hold a second forum for Republican candidates but GOP front-runners showed no interest, channel officials said.

Thompson plans initial foray into Iowa By MIKE GLOVER, Associated Press Writer

Thompson plans initial foray into Iowa By MIKE GLOVER, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 14 minutes ago



DES MOINES, Iowa - Republican Fred Thompson, the all-but-certain presidential candidate, will make his initial foray into Iowa next week, meeting with lawmakers and checking out an Iowa State Fair tradition — a cow carved from butter.

ADVERTISEMENT

Thompson, an actor and former Republican senator from Tennessee, will spend Aug. 17 in the state, aide Andrew Dorr said Thursday. His visit will come less than a week after Saturday's GOP presidential straw poll in Ames, an event that could prompt some candidates to drop out of the race.

Dorr said Thompson will meet privately with a handful of Republican state legislators, talk with reporters and see the sights at the Iowa State Fair.

Thompson is expected to join the field of Republican candidates, but the date of his announcement has been repeatedly pushed back and is now expected in September. He has spent little time organizing in Iowa and has only a skeleton staff, though polls have shown him running relatively strong compared to candidates who have devoted enormous time and energy to the caucus campaign.

"Is it too late? No. Is it very late? Yeah, it's going to be very difficult to crawl out of the organizational deficit he is in," said Chuck Laudner, executive director of the Republican Party of Iowa.

___

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton focused on her experience and years of public service Thursday when asked the question: "Are you black enough?"

At a conference of black journalists meeting in Las Vegas, CNN reporter Suzanne Malveaux asked Clinton, "Are you black enough? What makes you the better candidate over a black man in representing the issues confronting African Americans?"

The New York senator, who is competing with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for the support of black voters, cited her years of public service and advocacy, and described herself as the more experienced candidate.

"My attitude is, I don't deserve anyone's vote. I have to earn everyone's vote. I think that I can make a very strong case that my experience and my ideas, going back into the White House, is exactly what we need at this point in history," Clinton said.

Clinton used the appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists conference to outline her youth opportunity agenda aimed at a handful issues affecting urban and black America.

Clinton is proposing a $10 billion investment in universal preschool, and $100 million for internships giving middle-school and high-school students job skills. She said she would increase funding for the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission and reverse proposed federal cuts in child support enforcement.

Clinton also said she wants to spend $200 million over the next five years on community partnerships aimed at helping ex-offenders re-enter the job market.

But the former first lady became most passionate when defending her longtime advocacy for health care reform.

"I have never advocated socialized medicine and I want all the journalists to hear that loudly and clearly. That has been a right-wing attack on me for 15 years," Clinton said.

___

ASPEN, Colo. (AP) — Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards on Thursday criticized President Bush's proposal to simplify corporate taxes, saying it will only make the rich more wealthy and hurt the middle-class.

"This is completely out of whack with what America should be doing," Edwards said at an Aspen fundraiser.

In Washington, Bush said he's interested in exploring the possibility of providing tax relief to U.S. corporations. He has acknowledged that such a move would face challenges in the Democratic-controlled Congress, and he insisted it needed to be structured in a way as to not worsen the government's balance sheets.

Edwards told supporters that current federal tax policy favors wealth over work, allowing the rich to pay a 15 percent capital gains tax while forcing the middle class to pay much higher tax rates.

Edwards said he wants to raise capital gains taxes to 28 percent for people making more than $250,000 a year. He also would expand the earned income tax credit, expand child care tax credits and provide matching funds for middle class workers who put money into savings.

The candidate drew snickers from the crowd in this tony resort town when he agreed with a woman who said people earning $200,000 a year in communities like Aspen are considered middle class.

"What she's saying is true. Those are not rich people," Edwards said. However, he said he had to draw the line somewhere and that $250,000 a year is a good figure for people to be considered wealthy.

___

HAMPTON, Iowa (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Thursday expressed confidence in his record after a rival criticized him for changing positions on abortion, possibly making him vulnerable to Democratic attacks.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was the most recent Republican to criticize Romney. Although he said he takes Romney's "positions at face value," he argued that Romney's changed stance on abortion raised questions for Republicans.

"It's a different place than where he was, and the question is, is it a different place than where he will be" if elected, Huckabee said in a telephone interview.

In his campaign for the Republican nomination, Huckabee has tried to draw distinctions with Romney and routinely says: "I didn't become pro-life because of politics. I got into politics because I'm pro-life."

In response, Romney emphasized his record as Massachusetts governor.

"You don't have to take just my word for what I believe, you can look at my record as governor, and I am proud of that, and I wish Governor Huckabee the best," Romney told reporters after a campaign stop in Hampton. "But we'll run on our record."

As governor of Massachusetts for four years, Romney said he "came down on the side of life in regards to abortion, and on the issue of marriage, I fought tirelessly for traditional marriage, saying no to same-sex marriage."

But Huckabee said Romney's switch from his previous support for abortion rights evokes memories of what happened to then-Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry during the last election cycle, when he was accused of flip-flopping on issues.

"That's the kind of thing that obviously candidates hope to avoid," Huckabee said. "Certainly the Democrats, I am sure, would use that against him and certainly that is something he would have to deal with."

___

Associated Press writers Kathleen Hennessey in Las Vegas and Steven K. Paulson in Aspen, Colo., and Amy Lorentzen in Hampton, Iowa, contributed to this report.